Dana Johannsen: Top teams put today ahead of tomorrow's national side

Dana Johannsen

If I had a dollar for every time someone has asked me over the past couple of weeks what is wrong with New Zealand netball, I'd have ... well probably about $17.

Certainly not enough to retire on, but enough to make me think there is genuine concern out there about how poorly the Kiwi teams appear to stack up against their Aussie counterparts in the ANZ Championship.

After nearly one and a half seasons of the championships it is pretty apparent that depth is a big problem for New Zealand netball and the uneven make-up of the Kiwi franchises in the league appears to be only exacerbating the problem.

New Zealand's top performing sides have been guilty of sacrificing the long-term growth of players and therefore the development of a team, for short-term success.

With the bulk of New Zealand's playing talent spread among two franchises (the Magic and the Steel), up and coming players are not getting the opportunities to play alongside and learn from the best in the game.

Instead New Zealand's future netball stars have been left to languish on the bench, or, in the case of the Pulse, thrown in the deep end with no experience around to support them.

In Australia the playing talent is spread a lot more evenly, so we are seeing young, up and coming players improving more rapidly and adapting to the intensity of the competition because they have the more experienced players around them to support them on and off the court.

As the New Zealand teams continue to struggle in the league, the calls coming from across the ditch for a team to be dropped are growing louder.

The debate was once again raised this week with former Australian international turned commentator Kath Harby-Williams suggesting the answer to New Zealand's woes in the competition was to cut the number of Kiwi teams back to four.

She believes having four teams, with the talent spread evenly, would improve the standing of the New Zealand sides.

This will undoubtedly be the case, but that is not to say it is the right option.

The health of New Zealand netball will invariably suffer with fewer players exposed to the intensity of semi-professional netball and Harby-Williams' assertion that this will not be an issue if Kiwi teams are vying for an ANZ Championship title is wrong.

The loss of development pathways for young players will impact upon the national programme severely and fans will soon start to bemoan the lack of depth in the Silver Ferns.

Those across the Tasman calling for a Kiwi team to be dropped must also remember who stumped up the cash to get this competition off the ground in the first place.

In fact it was Harby-Williams' employer Sky Television that gave the competition the kickstart it needed by putting up the bulk of the funding.

The broadcaster has been one of the strongest advocates for keeping five teams as from a purely broadcast and sponsorship point of view, New Zealand needs to have franchises in each of the major cities in this country. If one of the teams drops out, then they've lost a huge market.

But this is largely a moot point as for now, ANZ Championship general manager Anthony Everard says he is "absolutely committed" to keeping five New Zealand teams in the League.

Of course, this is all up for discussion following the 2010 season, when the competition will be reviewed.

That effectively gives the New Zealand sides one and half seasons to prove they are worthy of having five teams in the competition. The standard across the board needs to lift and this can only be achieved with a more equitable split of players.