KEY POINTS:
North and Auckland Waitakere will make a case to Netball New Zealand for having two Auckland sides in the Tasman Trophy.
But at the same time, they will be working on a joint bid.
Netball New Zealand and Netball Australia last week said the semi-professional Tasman Trophy competition
would replace the National Bank Cup and Commonwealth Bank Trophy, starting in April next year.
Ten teams will compete - five from New Zealand and five from Australia.
Netball New Zealand wants to field three North Island teams and two from the South Island.
This which requires a merger between North and Auckland Waitakere and Otago and Southland.
Regions wanting to participate have until April 10 to express an interest. It is hoped the teams will be confirmed by April 23.
Netball North, Auckland Waitakere and Counties Manukau met on Monday night.
Counties Manukau are still deciding whether they will join North and Auckland Waitakere and create a greater Auckland team or join the Waikato/Bay of Plenty region.
Auckland Waitakere regional chairwoman Shirley Hooper said the meeting went well and a working party had been set up to prepare a joint bid.
But they were also planning to present Netball New Zealand with a case for having two Auckland teams in the competition. The population of the Auckland region and the region's player numbers and depth were the main reasons for the move.
Hooper said having a second Auckland team would not cost another New Zealand team its place, as the proposal was to have six New Zealand teams.
Hooper said the two teams were realistic about their chances, but owed it to their stakeholders to try.
"We understand where Netball New Zealand is and that its had to make some hard calls ... but we also believe we owe it to our stakeholders - the thousands of players and spectators and funders - to present a reasoned argument.
"There might be a region that decides it is not prepared to take the risk of putting in an expression of interest in and we might end up with two Auckland teams and one team missing from somewhere else.
"Or out of Australia there might be a desire for six teams and they'll be looking for one to marry up."
Hooper said Auckland Waitakere, North and Counties Manukau, if they chose to join them, had several issues to work through in making a joint bid.
The main ones were how they would raise the money to fund a team and where the team would be based .
The costs of salaries, travel and accommodation would be met by Netball New Zealand, but the teams have to be able to finance the stadium use, marketing, ticketing, gym fees and other associated costs. Hooper estimates this will cost between $300,000 and $400,000.
If Counties Manukau joins North and Auckland Waitakere it gives the team a choice of four venues - the North Shore Events Centre, Trusts Stadium, the Vector Arena and Telstra Clear Stadium.
Divying up the games could be an option, Hooper said, but she wasn't sure that was practical.
