Netball: Lessons learned – time to step up

Ruth Aitken is confident the New Zealand sides will have a better showing in 2009. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Last season's inaugural ANZ Championship season had a bold tagline: "Netball, as you've never seen it". The competition more than delivered on that bold claim.

For the second season, players, coaches and organisers alike are confident an even more superior brand will be showcased this season.

Fans took to the new era in semi-professional netball far more quickly than officials had predicted, with television ratings and match attendance exceeding all expectations.

The sport was under the spotlight over a longer period than ever before with Australasian netball fans treated to nearly four months of top-class action.

League general manager Anthony Everard said he is hoping to build on the 2008 success this season.

"In New Zealand it's obviously been popular for a long period of time; in Australia, it's a sport that is on the way up, but everyone wants it to do well. We've got such good momentum from the first season - the athletes are great talent both on and off the court - and we want the sport to keep growing," said Everard.

Last year's winning captain Catherine Cox described the opening season of the transtasman league as "some of the toughest netball I've ever played in my career". And at the launch of the 2009 season in Melbourne this week, the players assembled were united in the belief that the standard of netball will take another step up this year.

Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic co-captain Joline Henry said the players have now experienced what professionalism is all about and teams are now armed in the knowledge of what it takes to succeed in the highly competitive league.

"We know what it is like to play at that level each week and we will all be a bit better prepared. We want to be able to sustain those competitive levels for longer. Last season was a learning curve for me personally, as well as the team," the Silver Fern defender said.

With Australian teams dominating last year's competition, fans on this side of the Tasman will certainly be hoping the New Zealand teams have got their act together in the off-season so they can set about redressing the balance this year.

In the final wash-up from last season, Aussie franchises took up four of the top five spots, with the Magic the only Kiwi side to make the play-offs.

But Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken is confident the New Zealand sides will have a better showing in 2009. Aitken said the Kiwi teams will have learnt a lot from their opening year in the competition and believes a longer pre-season will have allowed them to put their learnings in place.

"With the players association having all been sorted this time around the franchises have had access to their players for a considerably longer period of time," said Aitken.

"I think it becomes a confidence thing too. I think the players need to realise they can perform well against each of the Australian teams. Each of the teams did it at one stage and they just have to get more consistent with it."

No New Zealand team managed to record a win on Australian soil and this will need to change if the Kiwi teams are to have an impact in the league. Again, Aitken believes the New Zealand teams will have learnt from their experiences last year.

"I think part of it is mind games. But the learnings of travel will have been factored in and the players just have to get on with it, really," said Aitken.

THE NUMBERS FROM 2008
* Over 5.8 million people watched the broadcast coverage of ANZ Championship matches across both countries
* Over 200,000 people attended ANZ Championship matches across both countries for the inaugural year of the competition
* 12,099 people attended the ANZ Championship grand final