NZ teams set for life without Aussies
Sides prepared for more intense competition among themselves with fewer players With a team of 10, it’s going to be really demanding, so preparation is key.
As a new era for New Zealand netball gets under way this weekend with the start of the ANZ Premiership, the key question is has the sport gone back to the future with the return to a domestic league, or just gone backwards?
The new league kicks off in Hamilton on Sunday with a super round — one of several format changes this year — in which all six teams meet at the same venue in back-to-back matches.
Desperate to match, if not exceed the hype across the Tasman around Australia’s new competition, netball bosses here will be pinning their hopes on the teams delivering a strong spectacle.
When news of the impending split in the transtasman league first surfaced last year, the overwhelming feeling among the New Zealand players seemed to be disappointment that they would no longer get to challenge themselves against the top Australians week-in, week-out.
That disappointment has dissipated as a groundswell of enthusiasm built around re-embracing a New Zealand style of game.
But there remains some nagging concerns that without regular competition against the Australians, standards will drop.
Netball New Zealand head of events Kate Agnew said the new league has been carefully designed to ensure the competition prepares players for the pressure and intensity of international competition.
The season length is the same as the old transtasman league but there are more games squeezed in and fewer players in each team, placing added demands on the athletes.
Ensuring the players will cope with those added demands has exercised a lot of netball brains around the country in the lead-up to the season. Central Pulse skipper Katrina Grant said her side identified early that good planning and player management would be key.
“This year, we’ve had more trainings during the week and the girls are a lot fitter. I guess that gives us confidence when we go into the Sunday-Wednesday games, or double-headers, we know we can handle the load. With a team of 10, it’s going to be really demanding, so preparation is key,” said Grant.
“Staying healthy and ensuring we recover well will be one of the most important parts of this. Just being fit and strong and making sure everyone comes through the season well will be important.”
The Southern Steel, who come into the competition as favourites having maintained a settled line-up from last year, have also ramped up their training intensity in the preseason.
While the data remains a closely guarded secret, it is understood in their heaviest training week of the preseason, the players completed double the units they did the previous year.
The net result can only be positive Central Pulse captain Katrina Grant for the Silver Ferns programme.
One of the key issues Ferns management identified in recent years was that the transtasman league was conditioning players for only one game a week. That created challenges, particularly for new players, when they came into the international environment and were playing up to three tests a week.
Grant, who also skippers the national side, believes the structure of the ANZ Premiership better emulates the international season.
“At Silver Ferns level, you go into camp and you train twice a day and then you play a test match.
“This is replicating the international season a lot more — especially down at the Pulse, that’s what we’ve been