There is still much work to be done but, writes LINDA PEARCE, a date for the announcement of new SSN team has taken shape.
Collingwood’s replacement as the eighth Super Netball licence-holder could be known in just over three weeks, as the Magpies prepare for their last Melbourne game on Monday against the Vixens, and the club makes arrangements to fly players’ families to Hobart for what will be an emotional finale on June 17th.
Interested parties, all of whom are keen for a speedy resolution, have been told of a potentially month-long exercise to determine who will replace Collingwood following the May 31 announcement of the Netball Australia sub-committee appointed to oversee the request for proposal (RFP) process.
The deadline for submissions is June 20.
“They were quoting about a month, end to end, so it depends on whether they can meet those objectives,’’ Netball Victoria CEO Andrea Pearman told CODE Sports. “But for us, and for everyone, the sooner this is done, the better.
“There’s a lot of work to be done in a very quick period of time, and so I hope through this whole RFP process that the timelines are met, because the sooner these licences are given out the quicker people can get on with life.
“Not just from the person that’s got to start up that eighth team, but from the players, from the other teams in the league, from the broadcaster. I think just getting this sorted quickly is going to be the best outcome for everyone.’’
Netball Victoria, which owns the Melbourne Vixens, last week confirmed its commitment to retaining the second licence in Victoria, which it stated would “ideally” be regionally based, while businessman and Melbourne Victory founder Geoff Lord has also declared his interest, as has Netball Tasmania.
The broadcast agreement with Fox Sports that runs until 2026 requires two Victorian teams, but NA boss Kelly Ryan has indicated that is not necessarily set in stone, while NV counterpart Pearman said the process over the coming weeks would include looking for potential partners “or just going in alone’’.
And while NV is the clear frontrunner, Pearman acknowledged that Netball Australia may prioritise a second team in metropolitan Melbourne, which would be “problematic for us because of the Vixens”, and thus not a viable option.
“Look, Netball Australia, having had a second Melbourne team, they would probably preference that, I guess we’d need to speak to them,’’ she said.
“But certainly from our perspective, given that we already have an incredibly successful Melbourne team in the Vixens, I wouldn’t want to be doing anything that actually undermined the great success we’ve had and the growth we’re getting from Vixens fans’ participation.
“So for me, (with) my Netball Victoria hat on, if we’re going to sustain a second licence for us, it would have to be a different approach, and that’s why the regional side of it makes sense for us.
“Having said that, if we weren’t successful and someone else wanted to set up the Melbourne team, at least that’s better to have that second licence in our state.
“So ideally even if there was another group that applied and were successful, as long as it’s in Victoria, that would be my No. 1 priority. But for us as NV we believe that the regional opportunities are there and we certainly have the membership and the engagement from fans to make it work.’’
The targeted area is the western corridor of Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo. The latter centres already boast fit-for-purpose indoor stadiums, while a facility at a greenfly site in Waurn Ponds will apparently be a legacy development for the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
That, Pearman said, would mean being “creative” with home venues in 2024-25, including holding both Victorian derbies at John Cain Arena on top of the Ballarat and Bendigo options, while selling a home game to Tasmania — as the Pies have done for their seven seasons — appears less likely but has not been ruled out.
Nor, at this stage, have any approaches been made to the Geelong Football Club, while the Victorian government’s contribution would be largely stadium related. Its events arm, Visit Victoria, signed on last October for a $15 million sponsorship of NA and the Diamonds that runs until 2026.
“It’s more about what support they can provide us, post Commonwealth Games,’’ said Pearman, who said a Geelong-based team would have been more problematic pre-Covid.
“But I think with the growth in that region, a lot more people are moving down that way, we’re seeing increasing demand on facilities, and with the government investing significantly in infrastructure around Commonwealth Games, I think it’s being reimagined across that corridor.’’
Having previously conceded that competitive tension is not always healthy in a high performance sense, Pearman said the appeal of Geelong lay in part in the “huge audience” in Victoria’s biggest city, but also the desire to avoid having two rival teams sharing a facility.
“So a real geographic separation and their own home and their own facilities is going to be really important if we’re trying to develop them as competitive teams in their own right.’’
Pearman only succeeded long-serving CEO Rosie King in January, but said she was aware of the Melbourne Phoenix/Kestrels narrative, and the criticisms of the former as the favourite child back in the original national league days from 1997-2007.
Or, as former Kestrel, Vixen and Magpie Madi Browne has described it “the bride and the bridesmaids’’.
A cautionary tale?
“I think there are definitely lessons from the past that we need to learn from, so how do we make sure we go into this ensuring that we’ve got equal opportunity for the two teams?’’ Pearman said.
“Our friends in NSW have got some great lessons for us, as have the Queensland teams as well, so we’d be mad not to really interrogate what are those watch outs or those things that we need to do to make sure we’re successful.’’
Which brings us back to Collingwood, which wasn’t, and what Victorian netball has taken from that experience, given that the Sunshine Coast is now SSN’s sole privately owned club, and speculation continues to swirl around its future.
“I think there are clubs that, like Lightning, operate very successfully without (the backing of) a state organisation,’’ Pearman said, declining to speak for the Magpies, but referencing CEO Craig Kelly’s comments to CODE after the withdrawal was confirmed, and with game 101 against West Coast therefore to be the club’s last.
“We had a good relationship and I think Craig Kelly is a fantastic operator. I’m disappointed that they were unable to continue, I think that would have been the best solution for everyone, because having to stand up the 8th licence, for anyone, let alone a state body is difficult.
“We’re really disappointed that Collingwood had to leave the competition. I think it would have been the best result for everyone if they stayed.’’
