Kelsey Browne inches closer to a Diamonds comeback in the Fast5 tournament

Following a career-best domestic season, the dynamic Magpie is treating her unexpected call-up as a welcome sign that the Diamonds door is still ajar.

Early in 2022, Browne sat down with her Collingwood coach Nicole Richardson — who doubles as the Diamonds assistant — to discuss how she could become a more well-rounded player.

A member of Australia’s most recent World Cup team, the 2019 silver medallists, Browne has not added to her 18-Test tally since rupturing her ACL soon after Super Netball resumed post-Liverpool, and is no longer in the national squad.

Which has not diminished the appetite for improvement, and the first best-and-fairest of her career — at any level — was reward for a season in which the wing attack was second in the league for centre pass receives (312) and third for goal assists (305) from her 15 games.

“I think I was able to find parts of my game and really hone those,’’ says Browne ahead of Saturday’s Fast5 opening day in Christchurch under coach Briony Akle, and games against Jamaica, South Africa and New Zealand.

“I feel better at 30 than I did at 23, and physically I’m able to do a lot more than I was back then, and I think that’s post-knee and learning a lot more about my body.

“I just think I had a different outlook on netball this year — it became a lot more of an outlet and I was really, really passionate about it, so of course you want to put time and effort into it.

“But I would say it was probably the best I’ve played, with the help of my teammates. That’s the level that I’m expected to play at now, but I think I can always do more, and I’m excited to see that I can probably go further again.’’

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As soon as Browne learnt of her Fast5 selection, she started training twice a day. Fast she clearly is, as fast as anyone, but a modified five-a-side netball format that dispenses with Browne’s favoured wing attack position and involves three condensed games each day means endurance, too, is key.

“I have heard that the fitness needed for a Fast5 game is above and beyond, because it does move very quickly and you obviously are without wings, so definitely in that centre position, which is what I’ll be playing in, you need a fair bit of fitness.

“And it does work well, because you’re obviously preparing for a tournament and you want to be really fit, but then as soon as we finish the tournament we head back into pre-season, so hopefully I’ll be able to bring the speed to the game.”

Browne is looking at this as an opportunity in a different sense, too, with centre her occasional rather than regular position, but one she has been trying to develop for the past 18 months.

Sharing midcourt duties with young Vixen Hannah Mundy and Jess Anstiss of the Fever, Browne is keen to use the international environment to see what’s improved and what still can be.

“Hopefully that helps when I come back to Magpies, and if I need to be swung in to the centre I do have that string to my bow.’’

Her club teammate in Christchurch is Sophie Garbin, who made such an impact for the Diamonds at her preferred position of goal shooter when replacing Gretel Bueta in the Constellation Cup following a more modest SSN season for Collingwood at goal attack.

It was Garbin who alerted Browne to her Fast5 selection, the latter having assumed that, similar to the Diamonds notification system, players would receive an alert to expect a phone call on a specific day at a certain time.

Garbin’s message: Are we going to Christchurch together?

Browne’s reply: I didn’t get a phone call, so unfortunately not.

Garbin: Check your emails, idiot!

“So I did and yeah, it was in there, which was exciting,’’ says Browne. “But I did have that split second thought thinking, ‘Oh, not again!’’’

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No surprise that Browne was pessimistic. The intense competition in the Aussie midcourt, and her inability to crack the Diamonds squad before becoming a mature-aged addition to the development version ensured her longshot status — despite Stacey Marinkovich’s all-are-being-considered reassurances to CODE Sports.

“We certainly haven’t closed the door on anyone that’s playing in SSN,’’ the Australian head coach says. “The competition, it’s cutthroat… and Kelsey has played really well.

“I guess when you look at all areas of court there is a bit of youth there (in Christchurch), so Kelsey brings that experience and you want a player that can read space well, who can bring great speed to connect either ends of the court.

“She’s had a great year in SSN and her ability to feed, she’s dogged in defence and has the speed to be able to run that Fast5 game. But it’s being able to see her get those connections with different styles of shooters, and see how that also can transfer towards Australian selection.’’

Diamond No.175 will take any encouragement — and yellow frock — she can get, and is treating this as not just a foot back in the door but “a step to where I want to be beyond Magpies” less than nine months before the World Cup in South Africa.

Does it feel odd to be in the development squad, with a 31st birthday looming early in the new year?

“I don’t really look at it like that; I just was excited to get an email to say that I was included in a team and a squad again, to be honest, and just happy to be back in an Aussie dress,’’ Browne says.

“I’ve sort of changed my mindset around everything now and I’ve probably said this to you 1000 times: I would love to be in the Diamonds squad. Any opportunity is so hard to come by, so I am grateful for anything that I get, and I don’t really care how it comes.

“It’s exciting to be under the likes of Briony, and get to play with a lot of the younger girls. I feel like I still have a lot to learn and they probably have a lot to teach me.

“I feel like when you get older you get a bit stuck in your ways, so I’ll be imparting whatever knowledge I have, but also being a bit of a sponge and opening myself up to new connections with girls I haven’t had much experience with.’’

Browne’s Fast5 debut will see the abbreviated format dusted off for the first time since 2018. It features six-minute quarters ended by double-point 90-second power plays, unlimited rolling subs, centre passes taken by the team that did not score last, and are one, two and three-point shooting zones.

New Zealand has won seven of the nine titles, and England the other two. Australia owns three silver medals and four bronze.

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Browne is studying for a Bachelor of Psychology as well as completing her Certificate 3/4 in fitness. Her first degree was in music and among her recent singing gigs was a set at Splendour in the Grass.

Another appearance was in late September at the Sunshine Coast Lightning’s five-year reunion of the inaugural Super Netball premiership team. “I said to someone the other day, ‘I swear to God when I go to a netball event people go oh, well, you might as well sing if you’re here!’’’ Browne says.

Only new mum Karla Pretorius was missing from the 2017 flag winners, with the Sunny Coast where Browne emerged from sister Madi’s shadow after leaving the Melbourne Vixens for more opportunity at the new franchise up north.

It was only after she returned to Victoria in 2019, and was a few years into her time with the underperforming Magpies, that she fully appreciated what that group achieved under Noeline Taurua and how hard these things are to win.

“I was probably naive in that ’17 was my first major year on court, and in ’17 and ’18 I won back-to-back premierships, and here I am probably thinking, ‘Oh, yeah, winning premierships is good, but they just sort of happen’,’’ Browne admits.

It’s now more about cherishing the moment and appreciating when a mountain has been climbed; with that weekend in Queensland came the reflection that her proudest netball achievements are those two flags, plus participating in a World Cup.

“We honestly just spent two days reminiscing about silly stories that probably can’t be shared publicly, and the relationships that we had, and sometimes there were fights, but we really were like a family, and it’s been cool to reflect,’’ says Browne of her time at the Lightning.

“I think something like that is brewing at Collingwood at the moment, so it made me quite hungry to go back and be excited for 2023 and beyond, to be honest.’’

The closer reference point is the Vixens, the Pies’ established Melbourne rivals who have kept their settled core group intact for years, and share not just a familiarity but genuine closeness and affection.

“It appears like they love each other, and they love the club and they love playing netball for the club, and I look at that and I go, ‘I think we are finding that at Collingwood.’

“Also when I talk about this I often think of the past players like my sister (Madison Browne) or Caitlin Thwaites and how challenging it was for them coming in and trying to pave a way in a big club like Collingwood.

“It would have been so difficult, but I think we’re reaping the benefits and have learnt a lot from what they’ve done in the past, so I think that’s part of the brew as well.’’

As is third-year coach Richardson, in charge of a more settled team which has upgraded training partner Nyah Allan in place of shooter Gabby Sinclair for 2023 and replaced an attacking mid (Maggie Lind) with a defensive one (Maddie Hinchliffe) from the squad that has never finished higher than fourth.

“I think we’re close but we’re just adding and taking away some pieces, and I do think there’s a different vibe, but I think that’s come from people in our past having to do all of the hard work to get us to where we are now, to be honest, because it has been a tough few years.’’

The AFL arm of the club showed what was possible with an almost-fairytale 17th-to-prelim-final surge under new coach Craig McRae, lifting the mood of the Collingwood collective, and while Browne is not abandoning her own dreams, she is realistic about her chances of reaching a second World Cup.

“At this point I wouldn’t think it’s a huge possibility, but I still think the door is ajar,’’ she says. “It will be tough to break into that team for anyone; it will be tough to even break into that squad — which I’m currently not in!

“But I’ve been in sport long enough to know that you never know what happens next, so I would be lying to say I haven’t thought about it and I would definitely want to be there.

“I also know there’s slimmer chances now with the success of the team at Comm Games, but I would never say never.’’