Diamonds boosted by imminent return of vice-captain

Diamonds vice-captain Kate Moloney is on track to return from injury and give Australia a much-needed boost for the Constellation Cup.

Moloney was forced to watch the netball world's number-one side suffer a shock 56–50 loss to the Silver Ferns from the sidelines after a finger laceration in the lead-up to the Auckland series opener.

The Diamonds were already without defender Jo Weston (managed), and the experienced duo was sorely missed against the Commonwealth Games champions.

New Zealand stormed to a 15-goal lead in the first of four matches, forcing Diamonds coach Stacey Marinkovich to bench captain and midcourter Liz Watson alongside goalkeeper Courtney Bruce in her 100th game.

Jamie-Lee Price took over centre duties against New Zealand's Adelaide Lightning star Kate Heffernan, while Jessie Grenvold was tasked with containing Silver Ferns goalscoring superstar Grace Nweke on debut.

Australia were able to cut the deficit to just six goals in the fourth quarter, but the damage had been done.

Georgie Horjus was the only Diamond who remained on the court for four quarters, finishing with a game-high 19 gains and 38 feeds as wing attack.

With the Diamonds set to name their squad on Tuesday night, Marinkovich said Melbourne Vixens captain Moloney's return was imminent.

"We'll definitely see her back in the series," Marinkovich said.

"It was a bit of a nasty laceration to her finger, so we had to wait till it pretty much stuck back together.

"It's just one of those innocuous things that happen at training, but she's been able to do all the running and the movement, and yeah, look forward to having her back."

But the midcourt will not be the only area of focus for Wednesday night's game in Christchurch.

Looking to end their five-year drought on Kiwi soil, the Diamonds will need to find a way past the towering defensive duo of Kelly Jackson and Karin Burger.

With goalkeeper Jackson standing at 192cm and goal defence Burger at 184cm, Australia's attacking roster of Kiera Austin, Cara Koenen, Sophie Dwyer and Sophie Garbin struggled to fire.

Marinkovich is urging her Diamonds to start with "immediacy" on the court.

"We were slightly off our pace [in game one], and our numbers would show that we weren't as aggressive as what we needed to be on the ball," she said.

ABC Sport will have live blog coverage of Game II between the Diamonds and Silver Ferns on Wednesday, October 21.