With contingency plans after two COVID-compromised seasons, a new broadcast deal and the July Commonwealth Games preventing a fixture extension, Super Netball begins this weekend with a grand final rematch, and plenty of nerves.
While there's "a lot of anxiety in the system", Netball Australia chief executive Kelly Ryan said the league is committed to "getting all 60 games away", while keeping player welfare and the integrity of the competition, considered the world's best, at the forefront of decision-making.
This week, the league released a raft of new policies and processes to manage the inevitable impact of COVID, which continues to cast a shadow.
It sees Collingwood head coach Nicole Richardson missing round one through isolation.
Changes include extending squads from 10 to 12 players for travelling teams and allowing access to opponents' training partners if needed, a "top-up pool" of second-tier players eligible to play for multiple teams and guidelines around forfeits and rescheduling of games — which will most likely have to become additional mid-week fixtures.
There's already two of those in the draw to get through the season in time for the Commonwealth Games, which begin 26 days after the July 2 grand final.
There's also provision for the league to provide a coach if both coaches are unable to be courtside, as was the case for the NSW Swifts at a recent pre-season tournament.
"We want to run as close to a traditional home and away season as possible and get clubs the revenue they desperately deserve after the last two seasons, but we also can't ignore COVID," Ryan, who started as CEO in July last year, said.
"We have to be well planned: have a clear set of protocols, lines of communication around who is responsible for what and the decision-making framework that sits around that.
The sixth season of Super Netball, which replaced the trans-Tasman competition in 2017, is also about change: lots of it.
The broadcast rights have shifted from free-to-air Channel 9 to pay TV provider Foxtel/Kayo, with two of four games each round available for free.
There's a change in fixturing, away from early Saturday afternoons, when grassroots leagues generally play, allowing amateurs to watch the elite, which should boost viewership.
And there's a move to an evening grand final, which has only been tried once, in the league's first year.
Also altered are the line-ups of all eight teams, after a frenetic trade period saw several big names switch dresses.
Here are just a handful of the narratives you should look out for across the season, which begins with the Adelaide Thunderbirds hosting Collingwood Saturday afternoon, followed by the grand final rematch between reigning premiers the NSW Swifts and Giants at what should be a sold-out Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney.
On Sunday, the Melbourne Vixens play the Queensland Firebirds in Brisbane, followed by the West Coast Fever hosting Sunshine Coast Lightning.
Swifts welcome pressure of back-to-back fight
Three players – shooter Sophie Garbin, defender Lauren Moore and midcourter Nat Metcalf – might have departed the Swifts after winning a title last season, but the trio was part of coach Briony Akle's enviously deep bench, meaning the premiers' starting seven remains intact for a back-to-back tilt.
Co-captain Paige Hadley said while it was tough to lose Garbin to Collingwood, Moore to the Giants, and Metcalf home to the English Superleague, retaining the side's core — which includes international shooters Helen Housby and Sam Wallace and defensive pair Maddy Turner and Sarah Klau — was key.
Hadley, part of the Australian Diamonds squad which won the Quad Series in London in January and who is on track for Commonwealth selection, said the Swifts welcomed the pressure of being the hunted, especially given they also won in 2019 and failed to back it up in 2020.
"Yes, it's pressure, but I believe pressure is what you perceive.
"Having the same starting seven might mean people have seen what we have, but we've added defender Allie Smith from the Vixens, who is super exciting, and two young guns from NSW [shooter Kelly Singleton and defender Teigan O'Shannassy] too."
At the pre-season Team Girls Cup in Melbourne, the Swifts were winless but were without coach Akle, who was isolating as a close contact.
They also didn't have Wallace, who has been struggling with a knee complaint but is said to be ready, and Housby, also injured and now recovering from COVID.
Hadley said 2022 could be determined by who can "put out healthy, fit athletes week in, week out".
What Colliwobbles? Garbin says Pies unfazed by 'noise'
When Collingwood made its entry into elite netball in 2017, it did it the only way the AFL behemoth knows how: by going big.
The club poached big names from across the country, stacking its team with Diamonds and international stars, prompting most pundits to predict domination.
But it never eventuated, with the Pies now considered perennial under-achievers given they haven't won a final, let alone a premiership, in five attempts. That's despite maintaining a strong list and boasting world-class facilities.
This version of the Colliwobbles is fast becoming Super Netball folklore.
It's something new recruit, shooter Sophie Garbin — who made the switch from the Swifts after struggling for consistent court time — is acutely aware of. However, it's not something she lets live in her head.
"We are still such a young club, our history is very short and obviously … it's not very rich," the 24-year-old West Australian said of the side that finished sixth and missed the finals last year
"We know we haven't been that great in the past. But what I've really noticed coming into this environment is we are very focused on what we're doing, what we're about.
"We're just thinking about the Collingwood of 2022 and 2023 and beyond."
Garbin — who looks set to play more goal attack this year given Collingwood mainstay Jamaican Shimona Nelson rarely plays anywhere but shooter — said making finals is a "bare minimum" KPI for the Pies.
Can the Vixens return to the mountain top?
In recent years, the Melbourne Vixens have been atop the mountain: an emotion-charged 2020 premiership in a Queensland hub after almost 100 days away from home, with their loved ones and fans locked down in Victoria. And they've been at the base: last in 2021 with just two wins.
The trajectory is understandable having lost two starting shooters to retirement after the premiership and the best wing attack in the world, Liz Watson, to foot surgery before a centre pass was thrown last year. But that doesn't make it acceptable to the high-achieving Victorian franchise.
In winning the recent Team Girls Cup without dropping a game — and sans their two top shooters, Kiera Austin, recruited from the Giants and still returning from an ACL, and Malawian Mwai Kumwenda, who had to isolate — the Vixens inserted their first pick in the mountain face for 2022.
Although Austin will have to build into playing full, 60-minute games, 2020 grand final MVP Kumwenda is fit and they have ready-made rotation Rahni Samason.
Samason is one of the most exciting shooting prospects in Australian netball: a rare talent who wants the ball, the pressure, the moment, and she can play both positions.
The defence end of established pair Jo Weston and Emily Mannix, worker-bee Kate Eddy, and former Fever defender Olivia Lewis is arguably the best, and most versatile in the league, providing coach Simone McKinnis with an embarrassing number of options.
Co-captain Kate Moloney, known for having a bit to say in huddles, on the court and in the media, kept her remarks after the pre-season tournament win to the point.
And that speaks volumes.
The privileges and pressures of new broadcast deal on pay TV
Since being announced as Super Netball's new broadcast partner, Foxtel/Kayo has talked about taking the league "to the next level".
In addition to broadcasting all four games each round, the broadcaster has launched two weekly TV shows, a podcast and promised in-game innovations such as aerial cameras, net microphones, and vision from team rooms.
That approach surpasses what Channel 9 delivered in the last five-year broadcast deal, but concerns remain in some quarters about paywalling the sport.
Like every other elite sporting league, Netball Australia also has to deliver "product", despite COVID-19, this season.
But Ryan doesn't feel pressure on that front, rather a partnership.
"We've certainly had a lot of dialogue with Fox around the multiple scenarios that could unveil [this season with COVID-19] and they're fully behind the decisions we will make, that they will be the right decisions for the sport," she said.
"We'll continually consult with them, every moment in time that we have to, to make sure we get the best outcome. Their position, make no mistake, is what's the best for netball.
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Erin Delahunty is a freelance sports and feature writer.
