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Diamonds win 1000th Australian Games gold

Ian ChadbandAAP
Gretel Bueta hugs Courtney Bruce after the netball Diamonds won Australia's 1000th gold medal. (James Ross/AAP PHOTOS)
Camera IconGretel Bueta hugs Courtney Bruce after the netball Diamonds won Australia's 1000th gold medal. (James Ross/AAP PHOTOS) Credit: AAP

Australia's landmark 1000th Commonwealth Games gold medal simply demanded to be won by a team worthy of the honour - and the netball Diamonds have obliged famously.

Stacey Marinkovich's team stripped the smiles from Jamaica's 'Sunshine Girls' in a revenge 55-51 triumph at the NEC in Sunday's final to reach the milestone they had no idea about - but one that meant so much to them.

"No way! The 1000th gold! So special, oh my goodness!" enthused Gretel Bueta, whose perfect shooting game of 37 from 37 attempts proved the cornerstone of the victory which felt more convincing than the four-point margin suggested.

"And I do think this is a special team that's won the 1000th, I really do," she said, when told that having gone into the Birmingham Games on 934 golds, with the two wins at the unofficial 1911 Festival Of Empire not counting, the Diamonds had now made history.

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"Most of us have come on a journey together since 2013 playing in under 21s together.

"We've got a few silvers along the way and we knew we were always capable of it and tonight we proved it to each other and tonight we got that gold.

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"We love representing our country, we love singing our Australian song after the game - and playing here in Birmingham has been an incredible journey for us."

Coach Stacey Marinkovich's team managed to defuse the threat of the world's best player Jhaniele Fowler as they prevailed in a thrilling final and had to block out the pantomime boos and shrill, deafening support for the popular Jamaicans.

"When you're in an environment when you're not the crowd's favourite team and you're having to contest every ball so hard, I think it showed we were playing some really good netball," Marinkovich said.

Three days after they let a four-quarter, six-point lead slip against the Fowler-inspired side, the Diamonds, as has become familiar, were not about to slip up twice.

Bueta combined superbly with Cara Koenen (11 from 11) up front while Courtney Bruce led the Diamonds' fine defensive effort, after being switched from goalkeeper to goal defence in an inspired move by Marinkovich to cut off the service to the brilliant Fowler at source.

This was the Diamonds' fourth Commonwealth title to go with 11 World Cups and six Quad Series wins, re-establishing them as one of global sport's dominant teams.

The Australians had begun impressively, suffocating the Jamaicans in defence to open up a six-goal lead and they were still up 14-12 at the end of the quarter.

But the complexion quickly changed with Fowler the focal point of the quicker transitions as they moved four points clear, prompting Marinkovich to introduce Sarah Klau as goalkeeper to quell the dominance of the superstar Jamaican shooter, who was owning Bruce.

At 29-29 at halftime, the Diamonds blasted out after the break, with Bruce, by now playing a dominant role at goal defence, pumping her fist at an early turnover which prompted a run of seven straight Australian points.

The lead increased to 10 before the Jamaicans pulled it back to six going into the final quarter - ominously for the Aussies, the same deficit as in Thursday's match.

There were a few nerves when the deficit was briefly reduced to just three with the brilliant Fowler ending with 46 goals from 47 attempts, but the Diamonds are forever going to be associated with the 1000 gold landmark.

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