EX-DIAMOND BACKS SALE TALK

FORMER Diamonds captain Sharni Norder has backed calls for Netball Australia to sell the Super Netball league if it cannot properly fund and grow the world’s best competition.

Norder said revelations from a News Corp investigation into the severity of the sport’s financial issues were concerning – not just for the future of Super Netball but because of the lack of transparency from head office.

Norder, who retired from netball after the opening Super Netball season in 2017, called the absence of financial transparency and communication with the playing group “disgusting”.

Norder said that had she still been playing, she would have gone on strike such was the lack of respect for the athletes.

“If I was in the playing group, I would have gone on strike,” she said. “Hands down – enough’s enough.

“What else needs to happen for them to take players seriously?”

“When Kelly (NA chief executive Kelly Ryan) came in (last year), she promised to change and now hasn’t delivered. So she’s already lost the trust of all of them.

“Yet, they’ve still given her another chance.

“Kelly’s come in late, so I’m not saying things are her fault.

“I think she can handle things better (than has happened in the past).

“I think that her no bulls--- attitude can come in handy but not to the detriment of (the relationship) with the players.”

Norder said that on top of the recent decision to sell the grand final without consulting the playing group, news of the severity of the league’s financial issues was a slap in the face. “Where do these people come from that you can just go behind people’s backs and not consult your asset making you money and getting them on side?” she said.

Norder said she was alarmed to learn the sport’s revenue had almost doubled from the final year of the Trans-Tasman competition, from $15.8m in 2016 to $28.7m in 2020, when Super Netball played in a hub to battle Covid. But the sport and Super Netball in particular was obviously living beyond its means.

“They need to make better business decisions and they’re not making better business decisions,” she said.

Norder questioned how long Netball Australia could continue living beyond its means.

“If they work with the playing group on what’s happening, we can move forward together,” she said.

“But the decisions that have been made of late around not including players, there’s no other sport that I’m aware of that does that.

“I get that Netball Australia is a business but your players are your assets. You’ve only doubled your revenue because of your assets.”