Diamonds coach Lisa Alexander sympathises with a Wallabies squad that has spent considerable time away from home and says player wellbeing is behind Australia's decision not to contest the inaugural Netball Nations Cup.

The tournament in England next January features world champions New Zealand, Jamaica and South Africa.

Australia have been regular participants in the overseas Quad Series held in January in recent years.

Getting the right balance: Australia’s Gretel Tippett under pressure from Karin Burger during the Constellation Cup international Test between Australia and New Zealand.Credit:AAP

Next Sunday's Constellation Cup series decider in Perth will be Australia's 15th and final Test of a gruelling year.

The Diamonds also had to fit in the Super Netball season either side of the World Cup without a break.

Alexander said a break at the start of 2020 had been on the drawing board for the best part of two years.

"The players need to have a rest it's actually a wellbeing issue for them," Alexander said.

"It's disappointing we don't get the opportunity to play, but we've got to weigh that up because they have got enormous schedules."

Alexander said it was a concern if athletes were treated like products instead of people.

She stressed players, coaches and organisers of sporting programs needed to have mature conversations about schedules and workload.

Burden of defeat: The Wallabies reel after their heavy quarter-final loss to England.Credit:Getty Images

"Netball can be a real leader in this area, I believe," Alexander said.

"Just ask the Wallabies how they feel now, they've been away from home now for 11 weeks, that's a really long time.

"I really felt for them last night [Saturday after the World Cup quarter-final loss to England] because they were hurting like you wouldn't believe."

Diamonds' captain Caitlin Bassett applauded Netball Australia for giving the players a break from touring in January.

"Every time you play an international Test your expectations are to be at the highest level," 'Bassett said.

"Having a break over Christmas [Day], running on Boxing Day trying to get together with your teammates over that break and coming together for a [January] tour is very hard.

"We want to do our Diamonds dress justice every time we step out on court, so looking forward to a little bit of down time in January.

"I think it's really smart of Netball Australia to look at the longevity of players and wellbeing of players and say 'look you're elite athletes and we don't want to drive you into the ground.'"

AAP

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