Netball: New grading system proving to be a winner

Netball grading in Whangarei delivered on its promise of being more competitive as the second weekend of grading concluded.

Whangarei Netball Centre Premiers saw some closer results as the new round-robin grading system saw the higher-ranked teams play each other in the second week and, similarly, the lower-ranked teams play each other.

Despite the good weather, sadly there were also a number of injuries, which is always disappointing so early in the season.

At the end of the night, Onerahi 1 with three wins and one draw with Active Refrigeration Fideliter 1, was ranked first overall. Whangaruru Combined had a narrow loss to Onerahi 1 but narrowly won against Fideliter 1 and WGHS 1, which was enough to see them ranked second.

Final ranking going into the preliminary round is important in terms of determining the seeded draw.

In the second grading day, the weather and scene was set for some good competition and close games as well.

Based on competition rules it was the Premier Reserve teams, Active Refrigeration Fideliter 2 and Takahiwai 1, that did enough to earn the right to try for promotion into Premiers next week. Wahine Toa 2 were equal on points at the end of the round robin with Takahiwai but based on a goal count back Takahiwai were ranked higher.

Conversely, the bottom two teams of Premier Reserve, Marist 1 and Active Refrigeration Fideliter 3, will be playing to try and stay in the grade.

Manawanui Collegiate Red and Manawanui Social, as the top two teams in A1 grade, will play against them to try and be promoted.

Grading promotion/relegation will occur next Saturday and be played across all Intermediate and Senior grades, including Premiers. This will see the bottom two teams of every grade playing the top two teams of the grade below. All other teams have a bye.

After this, the preliminary round will start with hour-long Premier games played on a Friday night indoors at WGHS and Kensington Stadium and hour-long Premier Reserve games played on a Saturday at the courts.

All other Senior and Intermediate grades will play 40-minute games on a Saturday. Juniors started this weekend with more Junior teams registered than last year.

After that Juniors, Intermediates and Seniors will break between April 27 and May 4, due to the school holidays, before starting the preliminary round. Premiers, however, will play through the school holidays.