ANZ Championship

Teams

2008

The ANZ Championship featured five Australian and five New Zealand teams. Adelaide Thunderbirds and Queensland Firebirds of the Commonwealth Bank Trophy league became founders of the new league. Several other Commonwealth Bank Trophy teams were transformed to form ANZ Championship teams. Sydney Swifts and Hunter Jaegers merged to become New South Wales Swifts, Melbourne Kestrels and Melbourne Phoenix merged to become Melbourne Vixens and Perth Orioles were rebranded as West Coast Fever.

Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic and Canterbury Flames of the National Bank Cup league also became founder members of the new league. Flames were rebranded as Canterbury Tactix. The remaining six National Bank Cup teams were merged into three new teams. Southern Sting and Otago Rebels joined forces to become Southern Steel, Capital Shakers and Western Flyers merged as Central Pulse, while Auckland Diamonds and Northern Force became Northern Mystics.

2016

Australian Conference

New Zealand Conference

History

Formation

The ANZ Championship was founded in 2007 and played it inaugural season in 2008. The competition was owned and administered by Trans-Tasman Netball League Ltd (TTNL), a joint venture between Netball Australia and Netball New Zealand. It was effectively a merger of Australia's Commonwealth Bank Trophy and New Zealand's National Bank Cup. Its main sponsor was the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group.

Five seasons, five champions

In 2008, New South Wales Swifts became the inaugural ANZ Championship winners after defeating the minor premiers, Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic 65–56 in the grand final. In 2009, Melbourne Vixens were both minor premiers and overall champions. Swifts went through the entire 2010 regular season home and away undefeated, winning 13 consecutive matches and finishing as minor premiers. However they subsequently lost both the major semi-final and the preliminary final to Adelaide Thunderbirds and Magic respectively and eventually finished the season in third place. After defeating Swifts in the major semi-final, Thunderbirds defeated Magic 52–42 in the grand final.

In 2011, Queensland Firebirds finished the season undefeated. They became the first team in the history of the ANZ Championship to go through the regular season and the playoffs without losing a single match. In the grand final they defeated Northern Mystics. In 2012, Magic became fifth team in as many seasons to win the title. Vixens won the minor premiership after winning 10 of their 13 matches. Meanwhile, Magic lost their first four matches. However, they subsequently won 12 matches in a row to finish third during the regular season and champions overall. In the minor semi-final they defeated Thunderbirds and in the preliminary final they defeated Mystics. In the grand final they defeated Vixens 41–38. As a result, they became the first, and only, New Zealand team to win the ANZ Championship.

Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic

The most successful New Zealand team during ANZ Championship era were Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic. In 2008 they were minor premiers and overall runners up. In 2009 they were regular season runners up. In 2010 they were overall runners up and grand finalists for a second time. In 2011 they were again regular season runners up. In 2012 they made their third grand final appearance and, after defeating Melbourne Vixens 41–38 they finished as premiers. As a result, they became the first, and only, New Zealand team to win the ANZ Championship. In both 2015 and 2016, Magic also finished as winners of the New Zealand Conference.

Thunderbirds and Vixens: second titles

Having previously won the 2010 title, in 2013 Adelaide Thunderbirds became the first team to win a second championship. Having won their first title in 2009, in 2014 Melbourne Vixens won their second ANZ Championship.

Queensland Firebirds

Queensland Firebirds were the most successful team during the ANZ Championship era. In 2009, Roselee Jencke was appointed head coach. Between 2011 and 2016, Jencke guided Firebirds to five grand finals and three premierships in 2011, 2015 and 2016. They were the only team to win back to back ANZ Championship titles. Romelda Aiken, Laura Geitz and Clare McMeniman formed the nucleus of the Firebirds squad and featured in all three Championship winning squads.

Demise

In May 2016, Netball Australia and Netball New Zealand announced that the ANZ Championship would be discontinued after the 2016 season. In Australia it was replaced by Suncorp Super Netball and in New Zealand it was replaced by the ANZ Premiership.

Format

2008–2014

Between 2008 and 2014, the regular season saw the five Australian teams play each other twice and the New Zealand teams once. Similarly, the New Zealand teams played each other twice and each of the Australian teams once. The ten teams played 13 games – eight home-and-away matches against teams from their country and five alternating home or away games against teams from the other country. The top four teams from the regular season subsequently qualified for the Finals Series which used a Page–McIntyre system to determine the overall champion.

Conference system

The 2015 season saw some major format changes. The league introduced separate Australian and New Zealand conferences, a restructured six-team Finals Series and a new competition, the Challenge Trophy. Teams continued to play 13 games – eight home-and-away matches against teams in their own conference and five alternating home or away games against teams in the other conference. The ANZ Championship also introduced draws for the first time. During the regular season, drawn games would see both teams get a point each. Extra time will only be played during the Finals Series. On 15 March 2015, the Round 3 match between New South Wales Swifts and Queensland Firebirds finished 47–47. It was the first official draw in the eight seasons of the league.

Grand finals

Minor premierships

Media coverage

Notable players

Main article: List of ANZ Championship players

References

References

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104. (19 February 2014). "Māori Television announces deal to screen ANZ Championship netball on Te Reo channel". www.maoritelevision.com.
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108. (6 March 2015). "ANZ Championship Netball On Free-To-Air Television". www.netballnz.co.nz.
109. (9 May 2016). "ANZ championship 2016 guide: Teams, tips, draw, TV, netball guns, player movement". www.dailytelegraph.com.au.
110. (17 September 2015). "2016 ANZ Championship fixture released". www.netballnz.co.nz.