Nat Medhurst: The real problem in Netball Australia’s $15m Diamonds sponsorship car wreck

That is the current situation around Netball Australia, the Diamonds and the farcical collapse of a $15 million sponsorship with Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting.

That is the situation with netball.

It’s a car wreck.

Having played at the elite level for 17 years, seeing the sport like this breaks me.

So much of this story is murky and amid the bombshell headlines, the crux of the problem has been lost.

Whatever took place among the Diamonds playing group during their training camp at the AIS, it is what then transpired – a complete communication breakdown – which is cause for greatest concern.

As I have sat back the past two weeks watching everything unfold, what has been most apparent is the loss of respect and clarity between key parties in the game, most notably Netball Australia and the Diamonds.

No one has been on the same page. Press statements and comments are contradictory. It is as though the communication of these crucial, complicated issues has all been done by text or email, and everyone is misreading the intent and tone of the message.

Since the introduction of the two-point shot in 2020, the communication process and its effectiveness has gone missing.

Again, this car crash has been coming. And netball is the loser.

A culture that means everything

As a young kid growing up in a small, regional town in South Australia, netball and other sports were a lifeline. An opportunity to run around, sometimes in horrendous weather, with my friends. At that stage, being a netballer was never something I aspired to, not knowing that it was ‘a thing’.

After several years of eight-hour round trips to Adelaide and numerous state team selections, I was making my debut for the Adelaide Thunderbirds in 2004. By that point, the likes of Sharelle McMahon, Liz Ellis, Cath Cox, Shelley O’Donnell and the rest of the 1999 World Cup winning team had put netball front and centre.

It was a sport for young girls to aspire to be a part of at the elite level.

In 2007, I made my debut for the Australian team. As player No.144, I became a part of history and an incredible group of women.

Up until that point, I never truly understood what it meant to pull on the green and gold dress, and the pride, history and respect that came with it. Throughout my time as a member of the Australian team, that culture, that insatiable desire to be a part of all-time great sides, continued to take shape.

In 2013, after a bit of a rough patch for the team, we wanted to develop a new and improved culture within the group. With that, Sisters in Arms was developed. The new culture became most visible in the moment before the first whistle, when all players and staff stood along the lines of the court, shoulder to shoulder, arms linked to sing the national anthem. Connected. United.

Creating a workplace culture is tough. Often meaningless words are thrown around. The font of a statement is more important than the meaning.

But for the Australian Diamonds, and other successful sporting teams and businesses, a winning culture is lived and breathed every day. When new players walk into the environment, they are given an understanding of what has gone before and their place in not just maintaining the culture, but moving it forward.

It is about respect, support, inclusivity and a level playing field. So much so that all players in the Australian Diamonds team - excluding the leadership group, who are given a very small bonus - are paid exactly the same amount, irrespective of perceived on-court value or games played.

This has been a stance driven by the playing group.

While a culture doesn’t always transfer to automatic wins and success, it becomes the foundation by which players hold themselves to account. The blueprint to how they represent their team and country with honour, especially when adversity strikes.

No coach or team (or business for that matter) could begrudge their players for living out the values of their culture. Otherwise, why bother.

This holds true for the Australian Diamonds. On what grounds can we criticise them for living and acting upon the very culture that has been embraced and previously praised by the players, coaching staff and netball executives?

Exactly how this issue has played out between the Diamonds and Netball Australia is unclear. The outcome is not, and it’s disastrous for a sport with well-documented financial problems.

Intervention is needed

Netball Australia and the Diamonds playing group haven’t always been one big happy family, but it has always been a hell of a lot better than what we’ve seen in the past two years.

Enough is enough.

No one is winning this battle.

Innocent bystanders, including grassroots players, volunteers and supporters, are taking a hit. Even spare a thought for Netball WA and the West Coast Fever, who have been side swiped by this out-of-control vehicle.

It is time for an intervention. To put this fighting to rest.

Because I don’t even know if people really know what they are fighting for anymore.

As players, we always need to take the emotion out of things when we step out on to court. The Diamonds, and Netball Australia, need to do that here.

Maybe they all need to finally get into a room and have a full-on punch-up (figuratively, of course); but the first step is getting into that room.

In two years, that has not happened. It is about time.

They all need to be big enough to listen to each other. To try to understand. To get back the respect.

Most importantly, to get the sport back on track, because the longer they wait, the price of this fall-out will become far more than $15 million.

Netball is going to become a complete write-off.