In what is becoming a recurring debate, the number of New Zealand teams competing in the ANZ Championship is again under the microscope after Netball Australia CEO Kate Palmer told News Corp that she thought there were too many Kiwi sides in the ANZ Championship.
New Zealand has 143,000 registered netballers; Australia has 360,000 – though both sides field five teams in the competition. There are just 20,000 more registered netballers in New Zealand than in the state of New South Wales, unsurprisingly – the nation has perpetually struggled to field five competitive teams.
But the complication is this; the bulk of the TV rights revenue comes from New Zealand broadcasters.
For a long time, there was talk of dumping Central Pulse from the league and now the focus is on the Canterbury Tactix, who despite being allowed two imports have won just four matches in the last five seasons. Next year the retirement of so many players – particularly from the Central Pulse – will see the quality of the New Zealand franchises almost certainly come under renewed scrutiny. A combined Tactix-Steel South Island team might be one option worth considering in the future.
Netball New Zealand has said it is committed to keeping five teams in the competition. Not only does having five teams add to the number of potential Silver Ferns getting court-time, NNZ has reorganised its internal structure so it is now divided into five rather than 12 development regions.
Brazill threatens incumbent Diamonds midcourt
The only uncapped captain in the ANZ Championships happens to be one of the best players in the team which now tops the ladder. West Coast Fever’s Ashleigh Brazill has had a tremendous season at wing-defence and centre, leaving some wondering if she might break through a very competitive field to make the Diamonds’ World Cup side.
Brazill’s prospects have increased following the devastating news that Madison Robinson will miss this year’s Netball World Cup with an ACL rapture.
The Fever will travel to New Zealand next week, and this will be Brazill’s biggest chance to show what she can do against Silver Fern players. She will face Anna Thompson next week, Liana Leota the week after that and then Grace Rasmussen, when the Fever host the Magic in Perth. These matches may well determine whether the 25-year-old makes the trip to Sydney for the World Cup.
Netball World Cup Invitational cancelled
Netball Australia’s plan to bringing together the highest ranked nations from each region which failed to qualify for the World Cup to play an invitational tournament during the August event has been set side.
Netball World CEO Marne Fechner told Guardian Australia that the inaugural event was created to help improve the playing standard of countries which did not make the 16-team competition, particularly nations from the isolated Americas regions which she said “have particular trouble organising sufficient match play because it costs them so much for them to travel to other netball regions”.
However, three invited teams – Northern Ireland, Botswana and the USA – first accepted then withdrew from the tournament due to a lack of funding.
Netball World Cup organisers told Guardian Australia: “With the small number of remaining nations secured, the event did not meet its original objectives. NWC2015 thinks the invitational tournament is a great initiative and we hope the concept is taken up by Netball England to run at the 2019 NWC edition in Liverpool.”
