One of the most tiresome lines a sports fan can hear is "it's just sport", writes Dana Johannsen.

A two-point shot may be introduced to seven-a-side netball if rule trials in New Zealand later this year prove successful.

Dunedin Police have been called in to investigate death threats made against controversial netball coach Norma Plummer.

The Mystics have revived their ANZ Championship season with a spectacular extra time victory over reigning premiers the Adelaide Thunderbirds tonight.

The Steel have helped restore some pride for New Zealand netball with a dramatic win against the Fever at Dunedin's Edgar Centre yesterday.

Magic coach Julie Fitzgerald believes the poor strike rate of the Kiwi teams across the Tasman over the first six seasons of the ANZ Championship is a mental failing.

Netball bosses are assembled in Melbourne this week for the latest round of talkies about the future shape of the transtasman league.

By tomorrow night, the Magic could be top of the ANZ Championship with a 100 per cent record from their first three games. It wasn't meant to be like this.

A mid-week catch-up with Australian shooting legend Vicki Wilson has helped battling Mystics stars Cathrine Latu and Maria Tutaia repair their confidence.

Around the ANZ Championship with Dana Johannsen.

It was no fluke. The Magic proved they still are a real force in the transtasman league with a clinical 14-goal rout over the Mystics.

Every week we want to take a step up from what was achieved the week before and most definitely this week coming up against the Mystics, we'll have to step up again.

Players, coaches and officials in the ANZ Championship will be subject to a more robust disciplinary procedures this year after a couple of high-profile incidents last season revealed inconsistencies in the way misconduct complaints are resolved.

The Central Pulse have been dealt some heart-breaking losses in their short history and the first game of this year's ANZ Championship was another frustrating instalment.

If there was a theme from the opening round of the transtasman netball league, it is the more things change, the more they stay the same.

This is rare air for the Central Pulse. They finally have the squad they want, a coach they're happy with and next to no excuses as they approach the latest instalment of the ANZ Championship.

There are few sports where male coaches are in the minority, let alone the sole figure on the sidelines with a 'Y' chromosome.

Northern Mystics captain Maria Tutaia is resting much easier on the eve of the transtasman league season than this time last year.

She is the piece of the puzzle the Mystics were desperately missing last season.

Anna Harrison's return to the transtasman netball league has been put on hold with the star defender to miss the Mystics' opening round match this weekend.

Laura Langman should solve the midcourt issues that plagued the Mystics last season.

On the eve of a new season, you are about to see a new Cathrine Latu.