What does it take to break the Australia-New Zealand netball duopoly?

SINGAPORE – Geva Mentor knows what it feels like to be a party pooper and she enjoys it. For years, netball has been dominated by trans-Tasman rivals Australia and New Zealand, but other teams have been threatening to change this in recent times.

Mentor was part of the English team that broke the duopoly at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games as they beat the Australian Diamonds on their home soil to win the coveted gold medal.

After finishing third at three World Cups, Mentor and the Roses finally reached a maiden final in August after beating New Zealand in the semi-finals.

While losing to 12-time world champions Australia in the World Cup final was a bitter pill to swallow, Mentor, who retired from the international scene after the tournament, has plenty of fond memories of England’s campaign in Cape Town.

“To be able to beat Australia in the round games – the first time for England in a major event – and to be able to beat New Zealand in the semi-final to enter a gold-medal final for the first time, we’ve got to be able to celebrate those wins as an England Roses side,” said Mentor, who made her senior debut at 16.

Mentor, 39, is in Singapore to conduct several coaching clinics as part of the

ongoing Nations Cup.

The 1.91m goalkeeper, who has joined the Leeds Rhinos, highlighted how the 2018 Commonwealth Games triumph generated huge momentum for England. Interest in the sport continued to grow as the 2019 World Cup was staged in Liverpool while their exploits began to garner attention from the wider sporting community.

Mentor, who has 175 international caps, paid tribute to the outpouring of support from fellow athletes in cricket, football and rugby after the 2023 World Cup and hopes such recognition can pave the way for more opportunities in areas like broadcast and sponsorship for netball.

It was also important that it was not just England shaking up the order in world netball, she added.

Jamaica are another side who have made strides – they reached their first Commonwealth Games final in 2022 in Birmingham, losing to Australia after beating New Zealand in the semi-finals.

Mentor said: “At the end of the day, for world netball to be stronger, you want to be able to beat the top nations, which are New Zealand and Australia.

“It wasn’t just England up there, you had South Africa giving teams a run for their money, you had Jamaica.

“It just makes it very exciting not just for the top four nations, but also the other nations here at the Nations Cup, that they are able to keep moving up the chain and hopefully it’s a really competitive top 10 and 20 come the next World Cup.”

While her international career is over, Mentor still wants to play a role in helping to grow the sport.

After years of playing in Australia’s top-tier Super Netball League, Mentor will return to England to play in the Netball Super League, which is undergoing changes to professionalise the competition by 2025.

She said: “I really want to stay at that grassroots level and not only get people into the sport and really enjoying it but also see where they can go and go on to be talent ID-ed.

“Whether it’s through the competitive route or enjoyment. I still feel like I’ve got a lot to contribute.”