Super Netball 2023 captains poll, Part II: Expansion team locations and biggest threats to the game
Where should the next Super Netball teams be located? And what are the biggest threats to the game? Netball’s burning questions answered in Part II of our captains poll.
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In the second part of our Suncorp Super Netball captain’s poll, we ask the players the big questions surrounding the future of the sport, expansion and what steps are needed to grow the game further in Australia.
Check out part one of our player’s poll here.
What’s the biggest issue/concern for players right now?
Mentor: “I think it’s probably around the CPA (Collective Players’ Agreement) and just not knowing where contracts are going to be going after this, but the great thing is that we’ve got our Players’ Association on board who have been a bit of a spokesperson and a voice for us and just figuring out where it needs to be going after this. The main thing as well at the moment is that we’re just trying to find our platform again, within the other sports; we’re not trying to compete against any other sports, but we’re just trying to make sure that we have that support and we’ve got the structure of the sport right from the foundation up.’’
Watson: “I guess it’s just to keep growing our sport and seeing netball relevant, and making sure that all young kids want to play netball and experience it and then hopefully become an elite player.’’
Proud: “Netball just continuing to push boundaries and continuing to be the leading female sport and just leading sport in Australia. It just needs to see forward motion, I guess.’’
Petty: “We just want to get on the court at the moment. Pre-season is quite long but it’s also needed, so I think that’s up there.’’
Ravaillion: “The growth in our game. There’s so many women’s sports available now to young girls and we obviously want netball to be the one that they choose. It’s not a bad thing having the growth in women’s sport but obviously we’ve got competitors now. So you’ve got to keep growing.”
Wood: “I think it’s just growing the game. I don’t know if it’s necessarily an issue but I think if we want to grow this game – I think we have a brilliant product – and it’s just about getting more eyeballs watching netball and growing the sport.”
Bruce: “The length of pre-season? It feels like it’s been such a long pre-season, so I think for us girls, we just want to get out there and play and let the netball do the talking. I’ve probably had one of my shortest pre-seasons to be honest (due to Diamonds commitments) but I know some of our girls have been going for a long time now.”
Price: “It’s probably just continuing to grow our league. I think we have an all-class competition, we’re really fierce, really strong athletes and we work just as hard as all the other high profile sports like the AFL and NRL. We’ve worked really hard for decades now and I think we are slowly getting there but we just really need to get there. If we can get fully professional, I think that would change our game completely. Now we’re semi-professional and we’re already playing to a high level; if we can get fully professional – it will be crazy.”
What’s the ideal squad size and why?
Mentor: “Coming off Covid and the amount of niggles and injuries there’s been, I think going back to 12 would be fantastic. I know there was an issue before because not many teams used to rotate their starting seven, so you had five that sat on the bench for a while, but nowadays with the rolling subs, there’s more opportunity for people to get on court, so I reckon pushing it back out to 12 would be fantastic.’’
Watson: “Twelve. I liked it when we used to have five on the bench. Having 10 is great but you have to be really ready to go and have your three on the bench who aren’t learning and developing like you might when we had five back in the day, so I would say 12.’’
Proud: “My point is we need more teams. I think that’s step one. And the squad sizes can kind of work around that. But I think the fact that only 80 players in the world are able to play in this competition isn’t enough, especially with the depth of talent that we have, not only in Australia, but in other countries. So I’d say go to 10 teams first and then think about getting to 12 players.’’
Petty: “I do like 10, but I think there is the potential to grow into 12 and have more spots in the team. It’s such a fast game, so why not have more players out there?’’
Ravaillion: “Ideally 12. Purely because if we have Covid or anything like that and we need players, having 12 is ideal.”
Wood: “I came in when it was 12 and I was an 11th and 12th player, so I think I might not necessarily have got picked up at 10. I think the more opportunities there are, the better, and whether that is adding 12 to a team or growing it and having more teams in the competition, the more opportunities there are for young Australian players to come through and play, the better.”
Bruce: “I’m happy with 10 at the moment. I really did enjoy when we had 12 though back in the day. It gave more people opportunities. So if there was an opportunity to go back to 12, I think that would be fantastic for the development of our younger players. But it could be that or an expansion of the league. Ten is great at the moment but 12 just gives you that extra little bit of numbers and support at training and when we travel, too.”
Price: “I think we need 12. It just brings a lot more depth into our netball. In the big scheme of things, 10 is not really a lot. You think about last year with Covid, if we had one or two starting players out of the squad, you need to bring in your young training partners. If you’ve got a squad of 12, it fast-tracks the younger girls and they get more exposure and can spend a lot more time focusing on their netball career. When they are training partners, they’re juggling what they’re going to do outside of netball because they’re not getting paid as much as what they’re required to properly do for us in the league. So 12 would be great and I think it would create a lot more depth for our Australian future.”
What does NA have to do to stop future players from choosing other sports ahead of netball, given the growing competition for young athletes?
Mentor: “We can all put our heads together and keep having that conversation. I think what you don’t see you can’t be, so making sure that we’re very present — and not just on TV playing, but we’re in the community, we’re in schools, we’re engaging, we’re cross-coding as well so we’re at other events, people are able to see us and speak to us. I think we’ve got some fantastic role models within our sport, so getting them out there and introducing them to everybody and anybody.’’
Watson: “I think getting them involved in netball early, at primary school level, that’s when I started. But then getting them along to a game. I know so many people who haven’t really experienced netball live and then once they do, they just love it and want to get involved as much as they can. So coming to a game, experiencing it live, seeing what we do out there on court.’’
Proud: “I think we need to get more people watching netball. I think we need to get more eyeballs on screens and bums on seats, essentially. I think it starts with that and it starts from within. The netball community has close to a million participants, but we probably don’t see that translate into people watching TV and people watching games. And also attracting new people to watch the game, because I think anyone who comes to a netball game says that they’ll definitely be back but it’s just getting people there for the first time.’’
Petty: “It’s definitely great to see other women’s sports (increasing their numbers) but just knowing that we were here first, and that we’re continuing to grow as a sport, and I just hope young girls can see that netball is a sport for them. It has a lot of tactical things that other sports don’t and a very positional focus, so that’s a big drawcard that we can have as netballers.’’
Ravaillion: “I think there’s many answers for it. To give you one: get us out there more. (Would that take) more sponsorship? I don’t know. Just put us out there, because other sports are doing that and I think we can probably learn from what they’re doing and help grow and make netball the biggest out of all of them. We are the top women’s sport and we’re very much highlighted to be the ‘ponytail flickers’, when really if you come to a live game and see it for yourself, you can actually see how hard we go on the court and how physical the game actually is and we mean business. We work out, we train really hard and we should be looked at as strong, fierce women.”
Wood: “Opportunity. I think at the moment, we do have limited opportunity in our sport and other sports have more opportunity. So I think that’s the biggest thing, is just making sure there are opportunities for younger girls. But I think also celebrate the fact that maybe we can have some cross-code players. I think Ash Braz (Brazill) has been a game-changer. I understand there’s probably some (concerns around) injuries and that sort of thing, but Ellyse Perry did it too and I think it’d be great to see that. But I think opportunity is a big thing.”
Bruce: “I think just continuing to build the pathway up. We’ve got great programs at 17s and 19s and ANC (Australian Netball Championships), so continuing to give girls (development) opportunities and opportunities to go away like we did when we were younger players. Also as older players, showing the girls the pathway and taking them on a journey with us.”
Price: “It’s just continually growing our sport and growing with the times as well. I think our sport is quite traditional and it is a women’s sport, essentially, but I think a lot is changing and we need to change with the times. We’ve only got eight teams in our league and eventually I’d love to see a couple more teams, so that we can play more rounds and we can grow our sport and get more depth. I feel like we have so much depth but because we only have 10 contracted players, that’s only 80 players (in the league) from the whole of Australia and all around the world. Netball is probably one of the most popular women’s sports in Australia and 80 players is not a lot, so if we can continue to grow our sport and add more clubs, I think that’d be really exciting.”
If the comp expands, where would you like to see a new team — or two — based?
Mentor: “I think the NT has to be one of those — I wouldn’t mind flying up there, too, it’d be quite nice! Tasmania, obviously, a part of Collingwood Magpies, I think it would be great to see them develop a team. I know Victoria are very strong and Geelong have put their hand up, but why not have a team in the other two states? So, looking at whether it’s WA or SA as well.’’
Watson: “Maybe the Gold Coast, so I can go live up there or something! I would say Melbourne but we’ve already got two! Maybe Tasmania, I know that they love their netball down there and I know Magpies have an affiliation with them, but they’d definitely get great crowds there, so Tassie.’’
Proud: “I want one in Tassie, for sure. To be honest, I think that every state and territory should have one. So I’d go Tassie and think about ACT, NT. Spreading it out all across the country.’’
Petty: “That’s a tough question. Every other state has got a hometown rival except for WA and us, so I’d love that. But then I’d also love that SA only has one team, as well. So maybe another team on the east coast and give one to Perth!’’
Ravaillion: “Gold Coast and maybe Perth could have two – every state could probably have two.”
Wood: “I think in states that don’t currently have teams. If you could get something in Tasmania and the Northern Territory or ACT, that’d be great to have. Me being in a regional team … for girls on the Sunshine Coast to see that there’s an opportunity to play professionally in their own area (is important and) I think it would be great for girls in the Northern Territory, ACT, Tasmania to see that there’s actually opportunities for them to play professionally in their own state or territory.”
Bruce: “I think Tassie would be pushing pretty hard for a team, which would be exciting. You’d always love another WA team; you could have one up north. You could go anywhere up north in WA or Queensland, a Cairns or Townsville. Probably not WA, actually, maybe NT and spread it out a bit more. But I think Tassie is definitely going to push hard for an extra team.”
Price: “You could definitely go to Tasmania, I think. You look at the men’s basketball league (NBL). I think it’s quite obvious even when the (Collingwood) Magpies play in Tasmania, there’s a strong following even when AFL plays there, they get really good crowds. Being such a small community, everyone will really get around that, so that would be a good one. Then I guess you’d go somewhere like regional Queensland, Gold Coast or up north, or even Darwin. The luxury for us as netballers is because netball has such high participation in Australia, it doesn’t really matter where you go because everyone plays it and everyone loves it.”
Would you consider playing in the UK or NZ league instead of Australia’s Super Netball if they were offering you significantly more money?
Mentor: “For me, it’s not always about the money. It’s probably the standard of competition — and it’s the umpiring, too. I think this is the best league in the world because of all of those factors. So I would consider everything, as you have to, but I’m very happy with where I’m at and with the calibre of players. I think it really depends on whether there was a mass movement of players and umpires.’’
Watson: “No, because I love this competition. It’s the best in the world and that’s how you become the best. And I love being at home as well, so I’m very lucky.’’
Proud: “It would be nice to live overseas, so maybe for one year! But no, I think the competition in Australia is the strongest, and you talk about it being the premier netball league in the world and you equate it to the NBA of netball, it’s like the EPL, so I want to be playing in the strongest competition and right now the strongest competition is in Australia, so as long as it stays that way, then that’s where I’d want to be.’’
Petty: “No, I’d stay where I am. Money can be a big drawcard but I’m very happy playing in Australia, I think we’ve got the best competition in the world, so why would you want to leave that?’’
Ravaillion: “I think a lot of things come into it. I’m a very family-orientated person. And obviously I’ve got my family here, so you’d have to pay me a lot of money to move overseas. I think there is definitely room for improvement (in pay). It has improved over the years but if you want it to pick up and move your life, there needs to be a bit of change there. Hopefully in years to come there is growth there. I’ve got a daughter in Georgie and she gets the opportunity to choose what sport she plays. If she wants to make netball her full-time job, she needs to be paid well. Hopefully for girls coming through, that increases. That’s why we want to make netball the No.1 women’s sport for girls to choose.”
Wood: “I don’t play netball only for the money. I play it because I love it. I’ve played it since I was six years old, so that wouldn’t be the deciding factor. My life is in Australia. I love Australia, I want to spend my life on Sunshine Coast, so for me, that wouldn’t sway me. I’ll never say never. But I don’t choose where I go purely just for the money, there’s other factors that are taken into consideration.”
Bruce: “I think we still have the best league and the best competition here in the world, so the depth that we have here and the calibre of players in our league means I’d choose the Australian league over and over again.”
Price: “That’s so funny because I used to play in New Zealand (in the Trans-Tasman League). But I probably wouldn’t. I’m really happy with where I’m at in my career and in my life. Maybe one day if me and my partner retired and we were looking for something different and we wanted to do some travelling, maybe we’d do that, but not at the moment. I feel like when you’re in your prime and you’re enjoying your netball – and I love playing for the Giants – you wouldn’t leave.”
PART I: CAPTAINS PICK FINALISTS, MVP, DREAM SIGNINGS
Originally published as Super Netball 2023 captains poll, Part II: Expansion team locations and biggest threats to the game
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