Netball: Call to trim Auckland sides

By RICHARD BOOCK

Diamonds netball coach Tania Karauria has joined a growing chorus seeking changes in the national league, including a reduction in the number of Auckland-based teams.

Most league coaches prefer a two-round, eight-team competition rather than the present format featuring nine franchises and a bye, and they say the logical solution lies with the number of sides in the greater Auckland region.

Auckland provides three Coca-Cola Cup teams with the Papatoetoe-based Cometz being the least successful, struggling near the bottom of the ladder with just one win this season.

The other two sides - the Diamonds and the North Harbour-based Force - have qualified for the semis the last two seasons. While Karauria's Diamonds have missed out this year, the Force have cemented their place in the playoffs with a round remaining.

Unless they beat the Southern Sting, at the North Shore Events Centre on Sunday, the Force will head to the deep south the following weekend for a semifinal against the defending champions.

Karauria says cutting the number of Auckland-based sides, from three to two, would be healthy for netball in the region while effectively clearing the way for a more streamlined and workable competition format.

"We've probably shot ourselves in the foot by seeking more representative teams up here. All we've achieved is a fragmentation of our resources. We've effectively sacrificed quality for quantity."

Her comments were echoed by the coaches of the three South Island franchises, who say the absence of the traditional Auckland juggernaut has removed one of the great challenges in New Zealand netball.

Sting coach Robyn Broughton said the competition was not quite the same now with so many teams from the greater Auckland region. "It's a real shame that Auckland's not the traditional heavyweight they used to be," Broughton said. "I'd love to see the region getting back to a two-team set-up and resurrecting those halcyon days."

Rebels coach Megan Anderson agreed, but she said she dreaded the day the Auckland boundaries were realigned to cater for just two sides as the memory of previous "super-teams" from this region was still too fresh.

Canterbury Flames' Margie Foster said Auckland's dominance from the 1980s to 1994 was ended by the emergence of expansion teams like West Auckland and Manukau. She says a consolidation of the three Coca-Cola Cup sides could awaken a sleeping giant.