View photosKEY POINTS:
BEST ENTERTAINERS
Mary Waya and the Malawi Queens. Their fifth placing was sublime, their celebratory dance and full-court roll a delight, and the magical 38-year-old Waya, the physical antithesis of an international netballer, was the star.
WORST MISTAKE
Fijian coach Vilimaina Davu's miscalculation, having no idea their loss to the Cooks in pool play blew Fiji out of the top eight for the first time in their world championship history.
MOST REMARKABLE FINISH
The Cooks, a team of Kiwi-based players strung together with little funding, lifting their world ranking five places to 7th and topping the Pacific Island nations.
BEST DEBUT
Botswana, the little netball nation that could.
MOST DISAPPOINTING
Barbados, dropping from 7th to 13th. While the African nations rose, the Caribbeans (bar Jamaica) fell off the pace, struggling to attract their basketball stars home.
BIGGEST EXAGGERATION
Norma Plummer's prediction that only two men and a dog would come over from Australia to watch.
BIGGEST UPSET
Singapore getting the 2011 World Championships ahead of Melbourne.
WORST RESULT
All of the quarter-final scorelines - the chasm is still deep and wide between the top four and the rest.
BEST NEW TALENT
Teenage giant Romelda Aiken, whose telescopic arms and accuracy right under the hoop will keep Jamaica in good stead for years to come (provided she's not snapped up by a basketball scholarship).
BEST UP-AND-COMING COACH
Jamaican playing legend Connie Francis, who rattled the Silver Ferns before putting the English roses in their place.
BEST SHOOTER
It's still Irene van Dyk, who, even with her figures tampered with by the groping fingers of Liz Ellis, still ended up with 90 per cent accuracy for the week.
BEST MIDCOURTER
It's a tie, between Australian sisters Laura and Natalie von Bertouch.
Are they really two people, or just a gold blur?
BEST DEFENDER
Silver Ferns super-jumper Casey Williams.
WORST PRE-CHAMPS PREDICTION
England coach Marg Caldow's boast that her side were really number two in the world and could be world champions. Peace Chawinga's threat that Malawi could topple the Ferns.
BIGGEST ABOUT-TURN
Marg Caldow blaming the media for blowing their chances of gold out of proportion.
BEST RECOVERY
Netball New Zealand for picking up the loose ball, the tournament left homeless after the Fiji coup, and scoring.
