Two changes up front for the Diamonds in this final match. As Kiera Austin  at goal attack and Kate Moloney  at centre return to the starting 7 after being dropped from the entire game-day squad in Perth. It’s Moloney’s first start in this Constellation Cup.

An obvious change up front for the Silver Ferns, as New Zealand look to the future in the goal shooting circle. Amelia Walmsley gets the nod in the GS bib. It’ll be her first minutes on court all series, after Grace Nweke has dominated that position for a full 60 minutes in every game thus far. But with Nweke moving to Australia to play Super Netball next year with the NSW Swifts, sacrificing her national eligibility. This is the only change Taurua has made to her starting line-up in four games. Talk about confidence!

Alright, now we’ve seen the Kelpies win the Trans-Tasman Cup 4-0, we are eager to see whether the Silver Ferns can do the same.

The New Zealand women’s team have already won the Constellation Cup, 3-0. But as head coach Noeline Taurua has said, 4-0 sounds like a nice number. It’s only the third series they’ve won throughout Constellation Cup history, so it’s a massive deal for the visiting team. What have they got in store for us in Melbourne?

Okay, let’s look at the final numbers. Defensively, the Kelpies really upped their game in that back-half of the game to level the Net Blacks for gains, 11-all. Overall, Australia was more clinical too with 13 less general play turnovers.

The scoring statistics show the Kelpies were also able to lift their gain to goal rate over the final 30 minutes, which was the main goal Nerida Stewart set them at half-time. Not seen here is the substitution list which saw every single Kelpies player get on court for a minimum 24 minutes. Great to see such rotation through the side and how much depth they have in the men’s national set-up.

Well Punshon has been a dominant force at the back all series. The defender finishes with five deflections and one pickup from his 51 minutes on court. Speaking with Fox Netball, Punshon said:

“I couldn’t be more proud of the boys, we all put so much time and effort into this sport. There’s nothing like playing in front of John Cain Arena home crowd. Kudos to the Net Blacks because they took it to us today. Proud of them as well … Personally I try to play a hard game of netball, I couldn’t do it without my teammates at goal keeper or wing defence, they allow me to get the glory balls. So I have to thank them for their efforts.”

The man of the moment Gillbard slots the last two back-to-back goals of the game. Kelpie #98 bows out in style!

Yes, the Aussies have now won this series 4-0 but this is the lowest total they’ve finished with in a game throughout the four games. As well as the lowest margin, with a victory of 32 goals.

Shows how much the Net Blacks have grown over the past fortnight!

SCORE: 71-38 Australia’s way

Jerome Gillbard re-enters the game too! Back in goal shooter to finish his final-ever international netball Test. What a nice moment for him. Time to soak up his last experience in the green and gold. Hard to believe it’s only the 13 Test of his career. Would love to see more opportunities for this team in international netball!

Australia’s general under the post has made his way back on into GD for the final five minutes of the game and he pinches a rebound off a missed shot from the kiwis.

Before launching himself up the court, taking the ball two more times in transition as he switches from defence to offence.

SCORE: 66-35 Australia’s way

Timmy Apisai has been doing his absolute best to disrupt the Kelpies in defence and this time his team convert his efforts. He jumps on a missed shot from Lee-Tauroa and sends it up to the shooters for the Net Blacks 35th goal.

SCORE: 63-35 Australia’s way

Punshon and Nikolic pull out the famous Harrison hoist to get a little more height over the kiwis shot. The goal defence grabs the goal keeper around the waist and lifts him high in the air. As the Aussies bat the ball over the back of the court.

Oh wow, the Kelpies are rolling on with momentum. They’ve converted the first seven goals of the last quarter and the Net Blacks’ fatigue means they’re providing little resistance.

Shoutout to Liam Killey too who debuted in the first game of this series and is relatively new to netball. He has a basketball background and is extremely tall – but also super accurate. In his 25 minutes on court, Killey has shot 27 goals from 27 attempts.

SCORE: 59-28 Australia’s way

Off the first centre pass, wing defence Jack Vandervelde helps out in attack, allowing his teammates to rush forward and get straight into the goal third. A brilliant pass right up the guts of the middle channel sets the tone with ball speed and the Kelpies are on the board in the final quarter.

No sign of Gillbard’s return to court yet. Hopefully he gets back on in his last Kelpies game!

SCORE: 54-28 Australia’s way

The Australians have put on their most dominant performance for the game so far in the third quarter, outscoring the Net Blacks 20-8 over the 15 minutes.

It’s the second straight quarter where they’ve restricted the kiwis to eight goals.

But the overall margin is a lot closer at the final break than it has been in the previous three games. Great to see New Zealand fight back!

SCORE: 53-28 Australia’s way

With about two minutes left in the third quarter, Killey puts up a layup of his own to see the Kelpies reach 50.

SCORE: 50-25 Australia’s way

This Kelpies combo is absolutely flying. The Net Blacks have started once again to rotate through their game-day squad in order to try and find some answers to slow up the Aussie attack, but right now the kiwis can’t keep up.

SCORE: 42-22 Australia’s way

Nerida Stewart’s changes have come off and the fresh legs have brought a lot of energy to the court. They get off to a 4-0 start for the third quarter. This is a great shooting combo between Lee-Tauroa and Killey. We generally see them spearhead the attack at this point of the game, but we weren’t sure if Stewart would instead persist with Gillbard in the shooting circle to give him 60 minutes in his final international game.

SCORE: 37-20 Australia’s way

Coming out of the break, the Kelpies and Net Blacks have made a host of changes.

The Aussies have brought Victor Nikolic on as a super sub in goal keeper and Jack Vandervelde on in centre. We also see Dravyn Lee-Tauroa on in goal attack to partner Killey.

Let’s take a look at the numbers so far.

We can see the Net Blacks are getting more hand to ball, hence they’re leading the gain stat.

But they’re also leading the penalty stat, so are spending more time standing out of play and have given away five more general play turnovers.

On the scoring statistics we can see what Nerida Stewart was referring to when it comes to the Kelpies struggling to convert their gains.

They haven’t managed to turn either of their gains into goals just yet. So more work needs to be done in transition.

But they are doing better on the centre pass stat. Sure it could be higher, currently at 78 per cent. But it’s much better than the Net Blacks which has slumped to just 56 per cent.

Once again, right before the half-time buzzer Raerino jumps towards the post and adds another layup to his team’s tally.

You’d think the Kelpies would be happy with this score line, but it’s actually their lowest score at half-time for the series yet. Head coach Nerida Stewart has spoken with host broadcaster Fox Netball about her desire to see the team convert more of the ball they’re turning over. Both teams have been fast and loose with their passing at times and it’s landed back in the hands of the opposition. Still, given they are 13 goals up! She’s clearly a hard marker and striving for perfection.

SCORE: 33-20 Australia’s way

Mikaira Raerino is known for a layup and as we edge towards the main break, he’s getting on the jump more and more. Such an explosive leap from the Net Blacks target! It’s really entertaining.

SCORE: 32-18 Australia’s way

And just as we say that, there have been further positional changes for New Zealand as we get closer to half-time.

Oceon Grady comes off the bench into goal defence to replace Apisai, while Liam Dalton takes hold of Apaapa‘s wing defence bib.

The Kelpies respond with their own subs, giving Roberts a rest, Gillbard a run out in goal attack and Liam Killey his first minutes in the game at goal shooter.

This is an extremely tall shooting combo! We’ve also never seen Gillbard in the GA bib for Australia. Aussie coach Nerida Stewart has cheekily decided to test his lung capacity in his final-ever Test.