Format for netball championship finals needs overhaul

Grace Rasmussen looks to pass under pressure from Abbey McCulloch. Photo / David Kerr

If the conference system is here to stay in the ANZ Netball Championship, as we have been told it is, then bosses need to rethink the finals format.

The first finals series in the competition's brave new world of transtasman segregation is all but done and dusted, and the scenarios many feared would happen have played out.

First, the Southern Steel booked their place in the play-offs on the back of a 23 per cent winning record after finishing third in the New Zealand conference, while other, better-performing, Australian franchises were left watching the finals action from the sideline.

Then, once the Steel were ousted, New Zealand's two representatives - the Magic and the Mystics - were easily taken care of by their respective Australian opponents in the weekend's semifinals.

While the Magic were more competitive than their Northern rivals proved to be against the Firebirds in Brisbane, giving the Swifts a big scare with a third-quarter comeback, the record will show a comfortable win to the NSW side. So we are left with two Australian teams once more to fight it out in the competition's showpiece this weekend. A rigged draw can only get the New Zealand sides so far.

That might be a harsh way of looking at it, but it is the inference fans will naturally draw after the weekend's matches.

But the changes to the competition format were driven by commercial motives, not fan sentiment, so let's talk in terms that will appeal to league bosses.

Given all the broadcast revenue for the transtasman league comes out of New Zealand, Sky were left feeling a little shortchanged that all the league's showpiece games ended up staged across the Tasman, and so the new system was dreamed up to ensure some of the play-offs action took place in New Zealand.

There were other commercial benefits to the new system as well, such as franchises being able to maintain fan engagement for longer in the season if there was more riding on each game. But really, it was all about keeping the broadcaster happy. In doing so, the league has devalued the product Sky is trying to push.

The fans are not dummies, they can see the competition is being manipulated and are rightly upset about it. While for the non-netball fans, it only gives them more opportunity to look upon the sport scornfully.

If ANZ Championship officials are committed to sticking with the conference format, then the finals system needs an urgent overhaul before next season. It has been suggested the league takes a look at the Super Rugby model, and allow a certain number of teams from each country through with the rest of the numbers being made up by the next best performing teams. So, if the transtasman leaguewere to keep its six-team finals format, the top two teams from New Zealand and Australia would automatically qualify, with the remaining two spots to be taken up by the teams with the next best points tally, regardless of which conference they're in.

The one and a half round draw system already affords New Zealand teams a significant advantage - the current finals format skews that to the point of absurdity.

Changing the qualifying system for the finals would be a non-perfect solution, but one that would restore some measure of credibility.