KEY POINTS:
For the first time in more than 50 years, the netball population of greater Auckland will join forces to form one super-team.
Netball North, Auckland Waitakere and Counties Manukau have together lodged a bid for a single team to compete in next year's Tasman Trophy, the inaugural competition
between New Zealand and Australian regional sides.
But at the same time, the three northern regions will let Netball New Zealand know that they deserve more - that their combined population and netball clout justifies two teams in future transtasman competitions.
The first edition of the new semi-professional league, starting in April next year, is expected to include five teams from New Zealand and five from Australia. While there's been plenty of calls from around the country for six teams from each nation, an extension is unlikely next year.
The deadline for team bids closed on Tuesday, with the teams to be rubber-stamped on April 23.
The northern merger has yet to decide on a name or a home base with a number of stadiums to choose from.
In another radical merger, strongholds Otago and Southland will unite in a team to be known as Southern TeamCo, based in Invercargill.
The Canterbury region has declared its intention to host a team, but its sister region, Tasman, has chosen to join with a bid from the southern North Island encompassing Netball Eastern, Netball Western and Netball Wellington.
The fifth team will almost certainly be based in Hamilton, with players from the Waikato and Bay of Plenty.
Auckland Waitakere region chairwoman Shirley Hooper said yesterday the three northern regions would present a paper to Netball New Zealand putting a future case for two teams from the greater Auckland area.
"We realise Netball New Zealand is in a tough position to keep the New Zealand side of the competition to five teams. But we need to make the point that our area provides 29 per cent of the country's netballers, and 30 per cent of the players in the National Bank Cup live in Auckland," she said.
"But in the meantime, if we can unite this city, it's better for netball as a whole."
Netball North chairman Kevin Simms said it was a momentous day when three significant netball regions bound together.
The Tasman Trophy, which replaces the NBC here and the Commonwealth Bank Trophy in Australia, has been established through a deal between the two countries' netball bodies, Sky TV and Australia's Fox TV.
The next issue facing Netball New Zealand is the debate over the salary cap, expected to be set about $300,000, which some regions feel is too low to allow players to give up work.
