Grace Nweke of New Zealand gathers the ball under pressure from Courtney Bruce of Australia.
Photo: AAP / www.photosport.nz
Having been with the national side for a decade, Silver Fern veteran Phoenix Karaka is enjoying being part of the “movement” that has seen them stun their arch-rivals.
New Zealand won the Constellation Cup for just the third time in 14 series on Sunday night, after beating Australia 61-43 in the third Test in Perth.
After upsetting the world champions in the first two Tests in New Zealand, the Silver Ferns were bracing for a tougher test on Australian soil but a brilliant second half saw them beat their rivals by 18 goals.
New Zealand has a chance to clean-sweep the series for the first time when they meet their rivals for the final Test in Melbourne tonight.
Having debuted in 2014, the Silver Ferns’ longest serving member has been through several highs and lows with the team and said it was hard to compare this side to previous incarnations.
“It’s a lot different, we’ve got young players coming through who have a lot of self-confidence, that they are kind of spreading throughout the team,” Karaka said.
The 30-year-old said they turned a corner after the disappointing 2-1 series loss to England earlier this month.
“We’ve really been thinking about ‘shit, do we really have each other’s backs, are we really there for each other?’ and I think that’s shown a lot more in this series.”
The Silver Ferns put an end to a five-game losing streak across the Tasman when they beat the Diamonds in Perth on Sunday.
Phoenix Karaka (left)
Photo: AAP / www.photosport.nz
Prior to that, the Silver Ferns last win in Australia against the Diamonds was back in October 2019, when legends Maria Folau, and Laura Langman were still in the side.
Just three players from the current team were in Sydney for that win – Karaka, captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio, and fellow defender Karin Burger.
Karaka said it was important that the younger members of the team knew how to win in Australia, early in their careers.
“It’s huge, to be able to get those wins over here is obviously very hard. When we do come over here historically it’s always been like the crowd is their eighth player and we’ve always felt that and I guess the energy that the crowd brings is huge.
“But I reckon this time around, the fact that we’ve been able to just band together, we’ve kept the same energy that we had from New Zealand. Whether the crowds with or against us, we’re kind of in our own bubble and I think that’s been huge for our younger ones to really fuel each other’s fire and to be able to maintain that has been something we haven’t been consistent with so it’s really awesome to see.
“It just shows we do have the ability to beat Aussie anywhere really, so that’s huge going forward for the future.”
Karaka has not seen any game time so far this series, with Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua sticking with a consistent starting seven.
But Karaka felt she was still contributing to the success of the side.
When the Diamonds came out strong in the first quarter of the third Test, Karaka could be seen geeing-up her team-mates in the huddle in the first break.
She said the Silver Ferns just had to absorb the greater physicality their rivals brought on home soil.
“We should expect hits and we should expect that maybe some things might not go our way so if someone gets called by the umpire for something, it’s more like a what next mentality. And I think we did that really well in that game because it did get a lot more physical than we were anticipating I reckon and I think we held our ground.
“Realistically we’ve largely had the same squad for a couple of years now so it’s so rewarding to see what we know that we’ve always been capable of doing actually coming to fruition.
“I’m just so proud to be part of this team, and to be part of the movement that we are creating.”
Karaka admits she had expected the Diamonds to be better than what they had demonstrated so far.
“They’ve been really disciplined in the past that when they make one mistake, there’s normally not many that follow, but I feel in those moments we’ve been able to put the pressure on and that’s where we’ve done really well and taken advantage to try to put them under more pressure to make more mistakes.”
New Zealand captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Having already secured the Cup, Dame Noeline has got options – stick with her starting line-up and go for the jugular or give younger players more experience against the world champions.
“She put it out to the group in terms of what are we looking for and I’d say the whole team, we want to go four-zip. So whatever that looks like on the court I’m happy with.
“I know that the opportunity to play some of the younger ones, to get out there and play Aussie would be huge but I reckon as a collective we so want four-nil because we want to make more history and we want to make a bigger gap between us and them.
“I honestly believe that anyone who goes out on court will be able to do their job and execute it but whatever that looks like for us, all in.”
Karaka said skipper Ameliaranne Ekenasio, who had been shooting brilliantly in support of goal shooter Grace Nweke, was worth her weight in gold.
“She’s always been a great captain, I don’t think she’s ever faltered from having our backs and showing that she’s got our backs as players and as people.
“She is such a strong leader within our group because she’s so easy to follow because you know that everything that she does is genuine.
“And she’s shooting like she was at the 2019 World Cup and to see that confidence from your captain to just turn and shoot and execute those long bombs gives everyone else the confidence to go and do their job so the fact that she’s been able to get into that space is amazing.”