Super Netball season hit by mid-season World Cup

Netball Australia will today unveil a challenging but ambitious fixture for the 2019 Super Netball season.

Geva Mentor win two titles with the Lightning but has switched to Collingwood. Picture: Lachie Millard

Netball Australia will today unveil an ambitious fixture for the 2019 Super Netball season as players still recover from the effects of a loaded 2018 calendar.

While the week-to-week timeslots have only seen minor tinkering, the entire league will take a four-week hiatus in July to accommodate the Netball World Cup in Manchester.

When the season resumes for round 10, teams must decide whether to play their returning internationals on only six days’ rest.

“It’s going to be challenging for our clubs and our athletes in terms of managing the load. Being aware of it and not just pushing through is something that’s important and new for us in terms of having more content within a 12-month period,” said Netball Australia chief executive Marne Fechner.

The Commonwealth Games in April left many international players burnt out at the start of the 2018 Super Netball season, and long-time Diamonds centre Kim Ravaillion withdrew from the team in September due to the effects of an overloaded schedule.

The 2019 season begins on April 27 with an opening round that includes a NSW derby between the Swifts and Giants, and the Lightning travelling to Collingwood to face old teammates Geva Mentor and Kelsey Browne.

The first grand final rematch between Sunshine Coast and West Coast Fever comes a week later, in Perth. One of the most heated matches of the season will come in round five, when veteran goal attack Nat Medhurst, now a Magpie, gets her first chance for revenge against the Fever team that dumped her unceremoniously after the 2018 season.

The first Melbourne derby falls on the Queen’s Birthday Monday public holiday, creating the chance for the Vixens and Magpies to tie in with the Melbourne and Collingwood AFL match later that afternoon.

Today’s fixture announcement confirms the return of the league’s contentious Saturday afternoon matches, which netball diehards say they cannot attend due to commitments at their local clubs.

Super Netball teams were swamped by complaints when the afternoon matches were introduced this year, but ultimately did not see a drop-off in viewership or attendance for those games.

Fechner said the afternoon timeslot had been identified as important in growing netball’s fan base, but that Netball Australia still had to appeal to its heartland.

League-wide attendance was up 13 per cent in 2018, and television viewership rose by 26 per cent thanks in large part to a shift to broadcasts on Nine’s main channel.

The world cup hiatus next year will mean Super Netball finals will be competing with football codes for attention in September.