Fuhrmann Aids Series Win for Diamonds

WAIS netball scholarship holder Susan Fuhrmann has helped the Australian Diamonds to a 3-2 series win over New Zealand, despite going down to big defeat in the fifth and final Test in Auckland.

Fuhrmann played a pivotal part in the Diamonds success, after keeping the talismanic Kiwi shooter Irene Van Dyke quite in all but the last match.

The Silver Ferns restored pride in the fifth Test with a crushing 52-36 goal win that took some of the gloss off the series win for Australia.

Diamonds captain Sharelle McMahon commented that it was a strange feeling to be accepting a series trophy following a massive defeat.

“There were times when we put some good netball out there but we were down by a significant margin at half time. After that nothing really worked – sometimes the harder you try the worse things get,” she said.

Van Dyke was named player of the match following her 33 goals from 36 attempts, but it didn’t detract from what had been a truly impressive series from Fuhrmann who in no small part helped earn the series win for Australia.

It follows on from a highly consistent season with the West Coast Fever in which she was a mainstay in the WA side’s defence.

Earlier, Australia had sealed the best of five Test series with a thrilling one goal win in Invercargill.

– With Netball Australia