Why Netball NZ boss believes ANZ Premiership can stay relevant, despite Silver Ferns’ exodus

Friday, 22 August 2025

Former Silver Fern and top netball coach Margaret Foster has declared New Zealand’s domestic netball league, the ANZ Premiership, is no longer an elite competition.

This story was originally published on The Post.

Netball New Zealand boss Jennie Wyllie has fired back at claims the ANZ Premiership will be a watered-down product without eight of the country’s best players.

NNZ’s relaxed eligibility rules and the lure of financial security and stronger netball have resulted in an exodus of Kiwi netballers to Australia’s Super Netball.

Frontline Silver Ferns Grace Nweke, Kelly Jackson, Maddy Gordon, Kate Heffernan, and Karin Burger will all ply their trade in Australia next year. Former Ferns Jane Watson, Te Paea Selby-Rickit, and Whitney Souness have also been snapped up.

Not having eight of the premier netballers in the country is a hit for both the standard and integrity of the ANZ Premiership, which moves from Sky to free-to-air TVNZ next year. It remains to be seen whether there is a drop-off in attendance with fans reluctant to go to games without star Silver Ferns.

Netball New Zealand chief exective Jennie Wyllie rejects suggestions the ANZ Premiership will be a development competition.

Kiwi coach Kiri Wills, who guides the Queensland Firebirds in Super Netball, said the brutal reality was the ANZ Premiership had become a development competition. The best New Zealand talent would now go and play in Australia to further themselves. Wills previously coached the south Auckland based Stars in the ANZ Premiership for seven years.

“There is an opportunity to be a great development league and nobody really wants that, but you've also got to be realistic about where things are at. I just don't see the Super Netball competition taking a step back now,” Wills told Sports Nation.

The Tactix celebrate winning the ANZ Premiership title last month, but their squad will be almost unrecognisable in 2026.

In an interview with The Post, Wyllie disputed Wills’ suggestion, arguing the contract vacancies would provide opportunities for the next generation. Some of the contracts would be filled by New Zealand’s brightest young netballers, including those in the New Zealand under-21 team, who will compete at September’s Netball World Youth Cup.

“I certainly wouldn’t call it a development league. It’s going to be the elite netball competition in New Zealand and I think we need to back our young people who are coming through and stop questioning their ability or whether they’re ready and give them that opportunity to shine out there in front of New Zealand’s public,” Wyllie said.

Wyllie argued the quality of the ANZ Premiership had shaped the careers of the leading Silver Ferns and been integral in catapulting them into Super Netball.

There were at least 48 ANZ Premiership contracts available for New Zealand netballers, which would continue to develop aspiring Silver Ferns and provide opportunities and court-time. With teams able to contract two ineligible ‘import’ players for 2026 (up from one) there would potentially be 12 further contracts for overseas players, though some sides might not use their full allocation.

New Zealander Kiri Wills, who coaches the Queensland Firebirds, says the ANZ Premiership has become a development league.

While some of the top names would not feature, there would still be a strong contingent of Silver Ferns’ nationally contracted players. Selby-Rickit and Watson were unavailable for the Silver Ferns’ 2025-26 national squad, while Souness was not selected.

“I think it’s a discredit to them to say it’s a watered-down product. Everyone will be going out there with the same intent to put out first-class netball. There will be new and exciting people that we’ll be able to know about and get to know.”

NNZ would be dipping into its cash reserves to prop up the ANZ Premiership and cover television product costs.

The way sport had previously been funded had changed enormously, particularly around broadcasting, Wyllie said. Unlike some New Zealand sports, who benefit from lucrative international governing bodies, NNZ did not receive any funding from World Netball. NNZ paid World Netball a membership fee based on their participation numbers.

Silver Ferns and Tactix star Karin Burger, left, will be one of the eight New Zealand netballers to feature in Super Netball next year.

“We don’t have a male game where we can cross subsidise into the women’s game. We don’t have a really wealthy international body and we certainly don’t have an India [like cricket] in that background of our sport. We’re 100% funded by the activities we do…

“The model that all sport has enjoyed previously has changed and the sooner we all face into that and do things differently the better.”

With the proliferation of New Zealand netballers in Australia some have questioned whether a Kiwi side could one day feature in Super Netball.

Wyllie stressed in a challenging environment for the sport, NNZ needed to be brave and nothing was off the table long-term. The logistics of having a New Zealand side in Super Netball would be difficult and would ultimately depend on Super Netball’s looming broadcast deal (which expires after the 2026 season) and Netball Australia’s eagerness.

A more likely scenario was the potential for crossover matches between the trans-Tasman finalists at the end of the respective seasons. Whether the Australian and New Zealand competitions could run at different times was another possibility. Playing in both would be tricky with players’ workloads and heightened injury risk.

“I think it’s certainly something that isn’t off the table [a New Zealand team in Super Netball in the future], but Australia are about to renegotiate their broadcast deal and for that to grow, the market will have to be quite different over there…

“Clearly [Netball Australia have] got to have a vision for where they’re heading and it’s got to be one supported by broadcasting and commercial partners. If that includes expansion that will be determined by how they go through their negotiations.’’