Dana Johannsen: Even spread of talent strengthens Kiwi netball

It has taken more than two years, but finally the transtasman league has dished up an all-New Zealand clash to get excited about.

Predicting the outcome of this weekend's match-up between the Northern Mystics and Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic is nigh impossible.

How many times have we genuinely been able to say that when contemplating a showdown between two New Zealand sides in the first two seasons of the ANZ Championship? I would venture never.

Such has been the uneven make-up of the New Zealand sides over the first two seasons, that when two Kiwi teams have faced off against one another, the result has generally been a foregone conclusion.

Sure, there have been a couple of tightly fought battles and the very occasional upset in the opening seasons.

But this has often been the result of the more highly rated team playing within themselves rather than two teams on level pegging engaging in a ferocious all-out battle.

On the other hand, across the Tasman some classic all-Australian showdowns have taken place.

With Australia enjoying greater depth and their talent base more evenly spread among their five franchises, each week seems to serve up another closely fought encounter.

While New Zealand will always struggle to match Australia for depth, we can look forward to some more-competitive all-Kiwi match-ups now the Magic no longer have a stranglehold on New Zealand's top playing talent.

The flurry of player movement in the off-season has seen a more even spread of talent, and each franchise now boasts at least three New Zealand squad members.

This is not only a positive thing for the health of the competition as a whole, but also for the strength of New Zealand netball.

Our top players are actually getting the opportunity to match up against one another and experiencing tight competition week in, week out rather than on the five occasions a season when they meet Australian teams.