The one question netball fans are asking now is:

How did it all come down to this?

5 Games, 5 Losses at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Fans are seriously disappointed and deservedly so for Fijian Pearls winless show to date.

Never before have we failed consistently to perform on the world stage.

We always back our Fijian Pearls being our one and only national netball team.

But when they continued to be outsmarted, and outperformed by teams we once beat before, there is an urgent need to fix the nosediving performance.

Definitely something is not right and way out of order on the direction Fiji Netball is heading.

Our best ranking was 6th 19 years ago and we managed to stay in the top 10 before the slump began and we are currently ranked 12th

We thought we prepared well for the Commonwealth Games with a coach of Vicki Wilson’s calibre in charge.

We thought we had the international exposure needed with the build –up

Against teams like the Silver Ferns, South Africa, Jamaica, Malawi, England, Wales and Scotland.

We thought we had the squad to do the job mixing the old and new, as we often hear.

We thought the Fijian Pearls got the financial support they wanted from the

Government, through the Fijian National Sports Commission, for them to be able to perform to expectations.

But all in all it ended up as a wasted exercise judging by the winless outing at the Commonwealth Games.

We thought they would improve after losing the first game but the Fiji Pearls never recovered, made worse by the injuries of senior players like Alesi Waqa, Paul, and Episake Kahatoka.

The two last matches were suffocating to watch. The team suffered their fourth consecutive loss to South Africa 28-92 on Tuesday before going down to Northern Ireland 46-73 yesterday.

The next big event is the Netball World Cup in Liverpool, England in 2019.

But first we need to do it right from the start if we are to win in the end.  Otherwise it would be another costly and wasted exercise for everyone involved.

Edited by Grace Narayan

Feedback; oseab@fijisun.com.fj