By JULIE ASH
You have to feel a bit sorry for the poor old Counties Manukau Cometz, who were booted out of the national league yesterday.
Although the Cometz have hardly made an impact in the competition over the past six years, they have never been short of fans or financial support.
And
as one of the country's fastest growing regions they have always had an abundance of players to choose from.
While the reasons for the axing of the Cometz are a little murky, it is understood the Netball New Zealand board wanted to cut a team from the league to eliminate the bye and double header rounds and to "strengthen the competition and help create a truly elite showcase for domestic netball".
But exactly how eliminating the Cometz helps strengthen the competition is not clear.
Unless the Capital Shakers and the Western Flyers get a serious injection of top players we can expect to see them languishing at the bottom of the table again next year.
For an elite competition the national league needs to be reduced to five or six teams divided into regions similar to rugby's Super 12 - Auckland, Waikato, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago.
It may seem harsh having just the main centres represented, but you find most players flock there anyway - for example, none of the current Silver Ferns live outside Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.
To help develop up-and-coming players each team could have a squad of up to 16 players, with 12 players named on match days.
Maybe a rule which states that players have to live in the area they play could be introduced to ensure an even base of talent.
The competition could run over two rounds and then in an ideal world the winner of the New Zealand competition could square off against the winner from the Australian league.
Fewer, stronger teams would be more effective in creating an elite competition if that is where the National Bank Cup is heading.
