Super Netball 2025: Ex-Diamonds coach Lisa Alexander adds voice to NZ expansion calls

Two of the biggest names in Australian netball are pushing for New Zealand’s introduction to the Super Netball league amid claims the current eight-team format has become “stale”.

Two of the biggest names in Australian netball are pushing for New Zealand’s introduction to the Super Netball league amid claims the current eight-team format has become “stale”.

Former Australian coach Lisa Alexander and ex-Diamonds captain Sharni Norder said it was time to welcome back New Zealand teams into the Australian competition as debate over Super Netball expansion intensifies.

It has now been nine years since the former trans-Tasman netball league – the ANZ Championship – was disbanded.

It featured five franchises each in Australia and New Zealand.

In its place, the eight-team Super Netball competition was born in Australia, while NZ has its own six-team ANZ Premiership.

Former Diamonds coach Lisa Alexander believes Super Netball needs a change, and NZ expansion must be on the table.

As Netball Australia edges closer to revealing its 10-year strategic plan for the sport under new chair Liz Ellis, Alexander said the time for expansion was now and the inclusion of New Zealand teams was a must for the growth of the league.

“It should have been done already,” Alexander said.

“They don’t need to do a 10-year strategy, you have to be nimble these days.

“Everyone is bored with everyone playing the same teams.

“It’s stale as an old bottle of milk. We just need to take that stale milk and make it into a smoothie a bit more.

“Look at the English Premier League, most of the interest is around which teams are going to be relegated or which ones are staying in.

“I’ve always been about expansion, but I am also wanting young Australian women to have an opportunity and you only get it with expansion.”

Sophie Garbin in action for the Diamonds against the Silver Ferns in the Constellation Cup last year. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

Alexander said any revamp of the Super Netball competition, which would likely be aligned to the new broadcast cycle in 2027, needed to feature two NZ teams – one each based on the north and south islands.

“I think two teams is the right amount from New Zealand because then you have one from the south and one from the north,” Alexander said.

“From so many different points of view; economically, politically and netball-wise it just makes it more interesting.”

Norder, who played 46 Tests for Australia, said New Zealand’s return would benefit everybody.

The champion defender said expansion needed to be included as part of a wider revamp, including a longer season.

“I think it would be better for everyone (to have NZ back) to be honest with you,” Norder said.

“We need more teams, we need a longer season. You can’t compete with a 23-round AFL season when you have only got 14 games.

Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic was the only New Zealand team to win an ANZ Championship title during the former trans-Tasman league, claiming the crown in 2012. (AAP Image/Joe Castro)

“You need a longer season, you need eyeballs on TV. You get the cross-Tasman rivalry, so you get Australians supporting other teams, not only their own team because we are playing against a New Zealand team.

“The game hasn’t dropped off by any means, I just think it (having NZ teams in the league) adds something extra.”

Alexander said the right decision was made at the time to walk away from the trans-Tasman league due to an “uneven deal” and to show Australia could “stand on our own two feet”.

But she believed the time was right for Super Netball to expand to 12 teams and she would have two extra Australian outfits based in Tasmania and Canberra alongside NZ franchises.

“I think we could easily go for 12,” Alexander said.

“Two from Australia, most likely Tasmania and Canberra. I really feel for Northern Territory but you probably couldn’t make an economic case for them just yet.”

The World Cup-winning former Diamonds’ mentor also suggested an Asian-based team in Singapore as a left-field option for Super Netball expansion.

“There is a lot of money in Singapore. They want to be the best in Asia behind Australia – that is their target,” Alexander said.

“They have a proper Super League and a fully-financed national program as well.

The Queensland Firebirds won the final title in the former trans-Tasman championship in 2016 before it dissolved and the Super Netball league was born. (AAP Image/Glenn Hunt)

“There are so many opportunities for netball it is not funny … we just have to be bold.”

While lauding what the trans-Tasman rivalry brought to the game, Norder said the different international styles of play also added to the league.

“I love Super Netball because it’s fast, it’s fierce, they are fit athletes, there is nothing like them,” Norder said.

“But I love watching international netball. I loved being over at the Nation’s Cup with England recently because I loved watching Uganda and I love watching Malawi, I love watching the New Zealand zone.

“For me I really enjoy those different tactical sides as well and I think I would like to see more of that in Super Netball.”

Originally published as Super Netball 2025: Ex-Diamonds coach Lisa Alexander adds voice to NZ expansion calls