When does a netball dress become a netball singlet? It’s a question that has occurred to many watching the Australian Diamonds start their Commonwealth Games title defence in winning fashion.

The Diamonds first trounced Tonga and then defeated England in their opening two games, showing it hasn’t taken long for the team to click since coming together so soon after the end of the Super Netball season.

However, there has been plenty of social media commentary about their uniforms, with some players having to tug at gold dresses that ride up above the bike shorts underneath.

It’s important to note the criticism has been more about the dresses’ functionality than their appearance.

After the Tonga game, Kiera Austin laughed off questions about whether the dresses were too short, noting they probably needed a few more wears to be flexible.

“I think before you have a few wears … they’re obviously a little bit tighter and whatnot. But yeah, I think they look great. They’re beautiful and we love wearing them,” Austin said.

There were more questions after their physical win over England during which social media users became obsessed with the dress.

Here’s a sample, including a reference to Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie.

Watchers of Super Netball would know it’s not that uncommon for netball dresses to ride up, but these outfits do seem shorter on material than usual.

Netball Australia knows uniforms can be a barrier to participation, especially at community level, having changed their guidelines in 2022 to allow players to wear any combination of dresses, singlets, bodysuits, short or long sleeve shirts, skirts, shorts and long pants with approval from their governing body.