Collingwood Super Netball team’s future in the balance, players and staff told in meeting

Collingwood’s troubled Super Netball program could be finished after this season, stunned Magpies players and staff have been told in a team meeting. LINDA PEARCE reports on a bombshell for the competition.

The Collingwood Magpies are on the brink of folding as a Super Netball team. Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Collingwood’s netball program is officially on the sporting death row known as “under review’’. Whether it can avoid a beheading seems doubtful, with seven years of underperformance and financial haemorrhaging leading to sustained board unrest that has now bubbled over.

Magpies CEO Craig Kelly called a meeting of players and staff on Tuesday morning to advise the stunned group that whether or not the club fielded a Super Netball team next season would be determined after working through money and other issues with Netball Australia over the next seven days.

“They are all in a panic at the moment,’’ said one source with knowledge of the gathering at the AIA Centre.

Given that Visit Victoria bailed out the national body last year with a $15 million sponsorship deal once the arrangement with Hancock Prospecting was controversially withdrawn, there is also a suggestion that state government assistance is being sought to keep alive the second Victorian franchise, backed by the nation’s biggest sporting club.

Kelly’s address came after the publication of part one of CODE Sports’ investigation into the issues that have plagued the Magpies’ netball operations almost since its birth, ahead of the 2017 season. Then, a new club now fully owned by the NRL’s Melbourne Storm – Sunshine Coast Lightning – was also introduced, while a second NSW licence was granted to Netball NSW, which runs GIANTS Netball, as part of a strategic alliance with AFL club Greater Western Sydney.

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Collingwood chief executive Craig Kelly. Picture: Mark Dadswell/Getty Images

It is understood that the survival of Collingwood’s netball initiative has been imperilled at various stages in its almost-seven-year life. Several board members – including the departed Alex Waislitz and Mark Korda – are believed to have questioned the cost and worth of continuing amid frustration over its treatment by both Netball Victoria – which operates the popular Melbourne Vixens – and Netball Australia.

Kelly was appointed as Collingwood CEO in January, inheriting a program that has been problematic since a respectable first season. Three top-four finishes in six years have never progressed beyond the minor semi-final stage, but this year’s disastrous collapse – resulting in just two wins in just nine rounds – has left the Pies languishing on the bottom of the ladder, and favourites for a second wooden spoon in four years.

While exact numbers remain in-house, membership is minimal. Crowds, after a promising first year, have shrivelled to now be easily the lowest in the competition; something painfully apparent in the almost-10,000-capacity John Cain Arena that only against the rival Melbourne Vixens comes close to being full.

Kelly was unavailable for comment but the timing is clearly aligned with the expiration of the current Collective Player Agreement at the end of September, given that all of the league’s 80 players are out of contract at season’s end.

New Team Participation Agreements are also being negotiated for 2024 and beyond. Should Collingwood hand back its licence, an eighth club would be required under the current broadcasting deal with FOX Sports, which runs until the end of 2026.

After a day of chaos, the following statement was received at 5.30pm from Netball Australia CEO Kelly Ryan:

“Netball Australia has been notified by Collingwood that it is reviewing its Suncorp Super Netball team program.

“We’re working with Collingwood and all stakeholders in relation to this matter.

“Netball Australia is committed to an eight team Suncorp Super Netball competition in 2024.”

COLLINGWOOD SPECIAL REPORT

PART I: ‘EVERYONE JUST HATED LIFE’

PART II: ‘THE WORST DECISION OF MY LIFE’

PART III: ‘LOSING A HELL OF A LOT OF MONEY’

Originally published as Collingwood Super Netball team’s future in the balance, players and staff told in meeting