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Australia plan to keep their foot on the throat of arch-rivals New Zealand when the teams face off next month in the Constellation Cup netball series.
With the Commonwealth Games gold medal safely in their keeping, the Diamonds have set their sights on next year’s netball World Cup in Sydney.
But first a clean sweep of the four-Test trans-Tasman series.
Australian coach Lisa Alexander said her team was hungry for success.
“Winning is really important to us,” she said.
“We’re all driven by the desire that we know there’s unfinished business.
“We need to keep improving because everyone else is trying to catch up to us.”
The Diamonds crushed the Silver Ferns 58-40 in the gold medal decider in Glasgow.
But with the first Test on October 2 in Invercargill, they are expecting a far tougher New Zealand outfit.
The Silver Ferns included four new faces in their squad of 12, including Australian Ameliaranne Wells, who qualifies by virtue of her New Zealand-born father.
First-choice goal shoot Catherine Latu has been included, having overcome a calf injury which restricted her in Glasgow.
“New Zealand will be desperate to show their fans that they have renewed and have got a real want and desire to do well,” Alexander said.
“Our girls are very determined to keep that superiority but they also understand it’s a different environment.
“We’re going into enemy territory, we’ve got to travel a whole day to get there so it’s not easy.”
The Australians plan to trial some different combinations in the series, which includes Tests in Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland, as part of their preparation for the World Cup.
Veteran defender Bec Bulley has joined the squad after the retirement from international netball of Bianca Chatfield and impressed Alexander at their recent training camp at the AIS.
“She wants this, she wants to do really well in this series,” the coach said.
“Bec wants to show that she can keep her spot, she’s hungry for World Cup.”