Netball Tas pushes for better pathway after nationals withdrawal

Netball Tasmania is adamant the week-long Australian National Championships “isn’t the ideal format” after withdrawing from the tournament. A meeting with Netball Australia to push for a better pathway is next.

The Tasmania Wild team which played in last year’s Australian Netball Championships. Picture: Netball Tasmania

Netball Tasmania will meet with Netball Australia powerbrokers to push for a better pathway for its players after opting not to compete in a dramatically reduced Australian Netball Championships this year.

With the new Super Netball reserves competition coming into play this year, most states have decided they can’t afford to compete in the championships, which will be contested by just four teams in Canberra next month.

An Australian First Nations team will make its debut against NSW, Northern Territory and host Capital Darters.

It is understood Netball Tasmania has long been unsatisfied that one week-long tournament per year is the best pathway for its players, particularly those with higher ambitions of playing at the elite level.

The ANC usually features teams from every Super Netball team and state body, and by the time logistics were finalised many Tasmanian players were unable to commit due to work commitments.

Netball Tasmania will use the situation as a chance to press for a better model which gives their players more than a week a year to play at a national level.

Netball Tasmania CEO Mitch Coulson didn’t go into specifics, but it seems likely discussions an extended league featuring states in a round-robin schedule could be on the agenda.

Netball Tasmania CEO Mitch Coulson Picture: Linda Higginson

“We’ll be flying over in September to meet with the Netball CEO and Chair to specifically discuss the pathways,” Coulson said.

“We’re working really hard to prepare a submission to Netball Australia on what we believe is in the best interests of the netball pathway for Tasmania.

“We don’t think ANC is the ideal format, and we’ll present them with options on what we think is in the best interests of our netball talent.

“At the end of the day it (ANC) is only one week. It was on our minds, but certainly what has transpired this year has certainly called into question what does the ultimate pathway look like, and that’s something more expansive than a week-long tournament.”

Netball Tasmania has gone down other avenues to try and provide high performance opportunities for players in the meantime.

Three young players, Paige O’Neill, Charlotte Walker and Ellie Marshall, recently trained with the Adelaide Thunderbirds for a few days.

The Tassie Wild play Melbourne Mavericks’ reserves before last week’s Super Netball game in Hobart, and have also travelled to Melbourne to play the Vixens’ affiliate Victoria Fury.

“That's the type of thing we want to keep creating, but ultimately we need a higher level pathway opportunity for our girls to aspire to. That’s what we’ve got to work hard on to secure for 2025,” Coulson said.

The Thunderbirds’ assistant coach, Cathy Fellows, is the under-21 Australian coach, so we had an eye on it being important to get the girls over there in front of Kathy.

“We feel there’s hopefully a recipricol relationship there in future, and next year we’ll send over more athletes and a coach.

“Later this year you’ll see a couple of their marquee players are going to come over and do some clinics and coaching for us. “

Launceston talent Ellie Marshall competing at last year’s national championships.

Early next year a couple of Tassie girls will go to Melbourne and do some training with the Mavericks. But it does come back to we want that tournament opportunity at the appropriate level for our girls to have a platform.

“We understand SSN is the best netball league in the world. But for Australian athletes, no matter what state or territory you reside in, we’d just like to see the pathway be present for all athletes.

“It shouldn’t matter where you live, you should be able to access the pathway regardless of whether you live in the country. Our vision of the future would be for a more holistic approach.”

Netball Tasmania has previously made its ambitions to eventually have its own Super Netball team clear.

Coulson hinted emulating the Tassie Devils’ football strategy by playing in the league’s reserves first could be an option.

“We still strongly believe in our case here,” Coulson said.

“If you look at the footy model they’ve got the green light for AFL, but their stepping stone is VFL first.

“Whether or not it might be something that helps us prove our case in the reserves first - we feel like it could be an option.”