A thrilling season of skill, innovation and extra-time finals showed netball’s local growth but also built a platform for the game to become truly global“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Charles Darwin was, of course, talking about the evolution of species when he penned these words, but as the Super Netball 2023 season drew to a close over the weekend, the sentiment stood out as particularly relevant.In yet another season where politics, chaos and calamity have dominated the conversations around the Super Netball, casual viewers could be forgiven for not fully appreciating the incredible season that has played out on the court. The 2023 season...
Without its own unique location or a grassroots connection, the Super Netball expansion club faced challenges from the outsetAs the sun set on the ANZ Championship in 2016, the most salient question centred around where three new teams would come from to form a standalone Australian competition. Five Australian teams participated in the trans-Tasman league, all of which had history dating back to the start of the Commonwealth Bank Trophy in 1997 and were owned by their respective state netball associations.Things moved quickly and with little time to build the kind of following those existing teams had, Netball Australia made it clear the new teams should have the ability to bring in their own fanbases. This resulted in the granting...
In a fresh quest to solve its identity crisis and attract fans, Super Netball’s new campaign steps into its power as a fierce, fast and feminist sportSince its inception, Super Netball has grappled with an identity crisis. Over the years it’s been variously marketed and consequently perceived as: an anodyne competition aimed at primary school girls fond of sparkly My Little Pony figurines, a world-class league likely to be embraced by casual male sports fans, and a brutal version of the grassroots game played by 1.2 million Australians that leaves players battered and bruised.In trying to please all masters since 2017, the league, its governing body Netball Australia and broadcasters have often disappointed many. But if the slick hype reel...
A season of drama and recent controversies of their own all faded into the background as the Fever secured their first premiershipIt was not the closest, nor most exciting grand final, but in the end the 2022 Super Netball title decider characterised the entire season. It was physical, it was emotional, it showcased the contentious nature of the two-point super shot and it was dominated by the West Coast Fever.Although the Melbourne Vixens were minor premiers and had the measure of their grand final opponents in their two regular season outings, the Fever can never be under-estimated and their nine-goal win in the major semi-final showed what they were capable of. They faltered only four times in 2022 – twice...
A short but pivotal period of time that saw the Vixens edge the Giants 55-54 to reach the grand final epitomised the 2022 seasonSeventy-five seconds is not a lot of time. It’s not enough time for the world’s fastest runners to finish an 800-metre race. It’s barely enough time for an NRL team to score a try. Maybe if someone was really committed to saving water they could squeeze in a shower in that time.However, the last 75 seconds of Saturday night’s Suncorp Super Netball preliminary final was long enough for hearts to break, find hope and then explode with joy. Long enough for fans to scream in excitement, then in anguish, despair, belief and finally in agony. Long enough...