Collingwood wobbled. Wallets opened, stadiums heaved and TV ratings swelled. Industrial action got ugly and complaints about the fixture reverberated. But fierceness and finesse on-court ultimately produced the world’s best netball competition in the inaugural Super Netball season – which, before Saturday’s grand final, the game’s boss says has irrevocably “changed the conversation” about the sport.
Netball Australia CEO Marne Fechner says the first season of Super Netball – featuring the five local teams from the now-defunct trans-Tasman ANZ Championship and franchises aligned to AFL clubs Collingwood and Greater Western Sydney and NRL side, Melbourne Storm – has been an “overwhelming success”, by any metric.
That’s despite the un-backable favourites, Collingwood, dubbed netball’s galácticos pre-season after assembling a Diamond-encrusted squad, only just making finals and losing when the heat came, when they let a six-goal lead slide in the last quarter of their minor semi against the Giants a fortnight ago.
After finishing second and third respectively, the Storm-backed Sunshine Coast Lightning and Giants – who’ve had to win consecutive sudden death finals, against the Pies and the season’s surprise packet, Melbourne Vixens – face off in Saturday night’s decider at Brisbane Entertainment Centre. The match will be shown live on Channel Nine in most states.
Fechner says a double extra-time thriller in front of 10,000 fans would be an “absolutely spectacular” way to bookend a stellar season.
“Fundamentally, we were looking for growth for our game, more Australian content and we got that. We’re pleased and excited,” Fechner tells Guardian Australia when asked about the league, which came with a landmark broadcast deal with Nine and Telstra and a $675,000 per team salary cap.
“Our broadcast numbers are up, more people have put their hand in their pocket to pay to watch a game live, we’ve had strong crowds, including a record at the double-header in Sydney in May. The numbers for live and replayed games on the [Netball Live] app are well up on anything we’ve seen before. Netball is the most watched of sports which Telstra streams. The length of time people stream netball is longer than other sport.”
The data backs up Fechner’s fervour, although she concedes it’s difficult to contrast figures from the old 10-team league, played in two countries over several days, and the all-Australian competition, which has just four matches each round.
Nine’s head of netball Keeley Devery says 43% more viewers tuned into Super Netball on Saturday nights on GEM, than did to ANZ Championship fixtures across 2016.
“Games this season attracted an average 106,000 viewers per match nationally [total metropolitan and regional viewers] compared to 74,000 viewers nationally last year in the regular season,” Devery says. “The television viewing figures have exceeded our expectations. In just its first series, the league has grown its free-to-air television audience by more than 40%.”
Then there’s the crowds. A total of 206,726 attended home and away matches in 2017, an average of just over 4,200 per game; above a pass mark for netball historically. That compares to 220,355 for all games last year. The first four Super Netball games in February attracted 19,559 spectators – and were watched by 850,000 on TV.
The “water cooler” factor is harder to quantify, Fechner says. “The number of people talking about netball, watching games, being engaged, knowing the results, discussing individual players, the media coverage, has definitely increased, anecdotally. When you have teams like Collingwood – love them or hate them – that brings ‘talkability’. The conversation has changed and that’s what we needed.”
The game itself has “gone to another level” too, the CEO says. “The standard of play has been extraordinary. You have to marvel at how the athletes have lifted the bar. They’re faster, stronger, jump higher and they’re fiercer. They’ve embraced this cultural shift; that this is serious now.”
One of the game’s most respected names, ex-elite player and coach turned commentator Sue Gaudion, agrees. “Week in, week out, we’ve seen an increase in the standard. The skill level, the depth of talent, the established and younger players who have shone, just the pure excitement … It’s all been there,” she says.
Gaudion says problematic scheduling and the public spat and on-court protest by players during round nine about the ousting of former Australian captain Kathryn Harby-Williams and ex-chair Anne-Marie Corboy from the Netball Australia board, were the only negatives.
“The protest probably stunted our ability to reach full capacity and I think the scheduling needs to be tweaked. The second game on a Saturday night proved a little too late.”
The league also needs to embrace the “shock factor” next season, Gaudion says. That could be in the form of coloured courts, a possible change in scoring format, allowing umpires to use players’ names or permitting umpires to enter the court area, she says.
“And we need more Sharni Laytons,” Gaudion says. “We want players to feel confident enough to be themselves on camera, to show some personality. For too long we’ve been too ‘plain Jane’. The players sell the sport and for me, it’s resting on the shoulders of too few at the moment.”
As for Saturday’s “state of origin” grand final, Gaudion expects an “epic battle” between the Julie Fitzgerald-coached Giants and Lightning, spearheaded by Diamonds shooting star Caitlin Bassett, who sits at 94.1% accuracy for the season, and coached by Kiwi Noeline Taurua.
The sides sit at one win apiece this season, with both matches decided by a single goal. “These are the two teams that should be there. They tick all the boxes; strong coaching, international stars, finals experience, depth on the bench. They’ve made it for a reason. I’ve been on the Lightning since the start of the year and I’m sticking with them.”
