BEST in the world is a title we should get excited about. This is a title that demands respect and conjures up images of fighting off or, in some cases, absolutely demolishing all comers.
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We rightfully should be proud our Australian Diamonds are the best netball team in the world and confidently will reach the International Netball Federation World Cup semi-finals in Liverpool later this week.
But it is the getting excited part on the path to the semi-finals that is the hard part.
Barring a disaster, you can predict Australia, host nation England, New Zealand and Jamaica will be there at the competition's pointy end. Maybe South Africa or Malawi as a wildcard. Maybe.
This is a great feat but has become as accepted and expected a sporting fact as the Nadal-Djokovic-Federer roundabout in the men's tennis Grand Slam world.
Australia is defending World Cup champion and has won 11 of the 14 World Cup titles, finishing runner-up to New Zealand thrice and claiming a tie with the Kiwis and Trinidad and Tobago in a 1979 round robin.
To not make this weekend's final would be national outrage.
Only, if our Diamonds really are to inspire the grassroots, they to hold our attention for longer.
It has been hard to really get captivated by the way the Diamonds have completely mauled each preliminary opponent the past week - Northern Ireland, Barbados, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Malawi - with an average winning margin of almost 59 goals.
Even Diamonds coach Lisa Alexander has called for a World Cup re-think, saying landslides do not make for great television, no matter how important it is for nations like Sri Lanka to take part and play against the best in the world. (Australia beat Sri Lanka by 75 goals).
It is nice to invite others to the World Cup party, but what kind of party is this when England and New Zealand have been carving similar paths of destruction to finals in their preliminary rounds.
Australia's Super Netball is the undisputed best netball league in the world, perhaps even more so after severing ties with Kiwi clubs in trans-Tasman competition.
This has even been to the peril of our best-in-the-world status. A shock one-goal upset to England in last year's Commonwealth Games still stings. The Roses' winning goal scorer Helen Housby and star defender Geva Mentor are Super Netball imports.
Being shocked back to reality is not a bad thing for the best in the world, really. The Commonwealth Games silver medal, a worthy honour, is a reminder to keep working hard. This is essential to growing and developing the game, not least for inspiring those playing at the grassroots.
We need to know even the best in the world can stumble, particularly when complacent.
What does best in the world mean anyway without much competition: Australia being the world leader in Australian Rules football, or American Super Bowl LIII champion New England Patriots declaring themselves world champions in a league of clubs all based in the United States.
Even this month's cricket world cup had a few more serious contenders than what netball is serving up a week later.
We will finally get a chance to see what this batch of Diamonds are made of on Thursday in a final preliminary match against New Zealand.
Surely we should not have to wait this long in a tournament to put our pride to the test.
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