Paige Hadley has taken over the Diamonds captaincy with Liz Watson rested from Australia’s netball series against England in a planned move unrelated to the ongoing sponsorship saga.

Hadley sat out the Diamonds’ recent triumph over New Zealand in the Constellation Cup as she continued rehabilitation from the calf injury which saw her miss most of Australia’s gold medal run at the Commonwealth Games.

But the 30-year-old Swifts midcourt ace will lead her team in a three-Test series against England which gets under way in Newcastle on Wednesday night, with goal keeper Courtney Bruce named vice-captain.

Regular deputy Steph Wood, who was player of the match in their deciding victory over the Silver Ferns on Sunday, has also been rotated out with coach Stacey Marinkovich trying to build depth ahead of next year’s World Cup in South Africa.

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Superstar Watson has carried a heavy load on and off the court with the Diamonds involved in a stoush with billionaire Gina Rinehart, who pulled her $15 million sponsorship deal.

Donnell Wallam, who will debut against England, raised concerns about ugly historical comments made by Rinehart’s late father Lang Hancock about the Indigenous population.

Teammates took a stand with Wallam, who will become just the third Indigenous player in Diamonds history, which resulted in Hancock Prospecting cancelling the cash-strapped sports body’s financial lifeline.

Marinkovich didn’t reveal if Wallam will start in Newcastle, with games to follow in Sydney on Sunday and Brisbane on Thursday November 3.

The coach said that despite the off-court drama her team was still upbeat, unaffected by outside “noise”.

“There’s a lot of outside noise but the way you saw the girls play against New Zealand the other day shows that the energy is high the enthusiasm and the commitment to the way we want to play is really still very fresh,” she told AAP.

“Paige is very excited to be out and playing and she’s in great shape as we took a little bit more time to make sure that her body’s right.

“She brings speed and she’s very intelligent out on the court and obviously, we’ve named her as our our series captain so brings that leadership.”

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England enters the series at full strength with a number of its key players resting from recent matches against Uganda.

As well as skipper Natalie Metcalf, the Australia-based quartet of Jo Harten, Geva Mentor, Helen Housby and Eleanor Cardwell, who all play Super Netball, have been included in the squad.

England was left smarting after the hosts missed the medals at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, bumped down to fourth.

“England have brought their strength and depth – they’re making sure that they’re leaving no stone unturned as well as they build towards a World Cup,” Marinkovich said.

“I expect that test and trial different things, but I certainly would expect to see their experience out on court in the first game.”

-AAP