Sarah Klau keeps Diamonds spot for Constellation Cup after assault case
Australia defender Sarah Klau has kept her place in the Diamonds squad for the Constellation Cup after pleading guilty to common assault earlier in September.
The 14-player squad was named on 22 September. The annual series between Australia and New Zealand — played for trans-Tasman bragging rights — starts on 18 October in Auckland, according to The Guardian.
Klau fronted Sydney’s Downing Centre Court over an incident on 7 June outside a pub in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. She had been denied entry for being too intoxicated and then kicked a security guard in the back. She pleaded guilty to one charge of common assault.
No conviction was recorded. The matter was dismissed by the court on 3 September.
Netball Australia acted less than a week before the squad announcement. It found Klau had breached its code of conduct, in part because she did not tell the sport about the matter before the Commonwealth Games in July. The body fined her $5,000 and handed her a two-game ban suspended for 12 months, as reported by ABC.
That left her clear to be selected. The suspended ban means she can play unless she breaches the code again in the next year.
Klau works in the defensive third, where defenders mark the opposition shooters and hunt for intercepts and rebounds. She has played 67 times for Australia since her debut in 2019.
She joins Kiera Austin, Courtney Bruce, Sophie Dwyer, Sophie Garbin, Matilda Garrett, Jessie Grenvold, Georgie Horjus, Cara Koenen, Kate Moloney, Amy Parmenter, Jamie-Lee Price, Donnell Wallam and Liz Watson in the squad named by Netball Australia. The 2026 series, presented by Suncorp, is the 16th edition of the Constellation Cup.
For fans, this means Australia will take a settled defensive group to New Zealand. The focus now shifts to the court. Four Tests will decide who lifts the Cup.
