The Australian Men’s side put out another historic performance over the weekend, this time against England in their debut international test. Winning 73-27, the Aussie Men’s outfit asserted their dominance on the world netball stage with a strong four quarter performance.
The sides came into the game with limited experience and understanding of each other’s style of play, but Australia kicked things up a gear, leaning on the energy of the home crowd in Sydney and carrying their hot form against New Zealand into this match against England.
After overcoming a shaky start to the game Australia claimed the ascendency and made their intentions very clear, capitalising on any loose balls and smothering England with their relentless one-on-one defence. The Aussies’ cleanliness with ball in hand and execution was on full show as they put the foot down against a determined England side.
Our Victorians were once again front and centre throughout the clash with Riley Richardson leading the charge through the midcourt. The centre flexed his impressive footspeed and vision, delivering blistering passes into the goalers while also impressing in defence.
Richardson started the match in centre before moving to wing attack and didn’t skip a beat, finishing with a team-high 20 goal assists along with two intercepts, three deflections and four pickups.
Teammate and fellow Victorian Brodie Roberts also made an impact on the scoreboard. Injected into the game at half time, Roberts set the court alight with his speed and willingness to go to post.
His game awareness was second to none, dancing his way into the circle or offloading pinpoint passes. Roberts did a wealth of work at the centre pass racking up 12 receives and was damaging inside the circle, sitting at 92% thanks to his 12 goals from 13 attempts.
Goal defence Tim Malmo made sure he left a lasting imprint, the talented defender using his leap and long arms to wreak havoc down back.
Malmo collected an impressive five gains – including two intercepts and two rebounds – in his 30 minutes of game time, while also playing a key role in transition to move the ball from defence to attack.
The squad now heads to Christchurch to compete in the Fast5 Netball World Series this weekend. You can watch it live and free on 7Plus .
If you’re interested in following in the footsteps of our great Victorian and Australian men’s netballers, head to our website to find out more.
