A new-look Australian Netball Championships will hit the nation’s capital this August with two domestic teams set to make their championship debut as well as an NSW team.
This third edition of the open age competition will be contested from August 25 to 28 at Solar Hub ACT Netball Centre, located in the Australian Capital Territory.
The tournament will welcome the Australian First Nations team, the Black Swans, and the NSW Waratahs to compete against hosts Capital Darters and the Territory Storm.
This year’s championships will be the first edition since Netball Australia’s pilot competition, the Super Netball Reserves, was added to the national pathways calendar.
“We are excited to see this year’s Australian Netball Championships provide new opportunities for competing teams,” said Matt Lyons, Netball Australia’s acting Executive General Manager of High Performance.
“It is important to ensure we have a mix of developmental opportunities that evolve the talent within our entire netball ecosystem, inclusive of athletes, coaches, umpires and bench officials.
“Introducing our pathway pilot product, the Super Netball Reserves, provided an opportunity for us to review how these championships fit to develop our national pathway athletes within and outside of Suncorp Super Netball environments.
“This year’s championships will provide a dedicated opportunity for our competing teams and their emerging national talent to develop their skills across three days of high-level competition.”
The 2024 event will be the first time the Australian Netball Championships have been held in the ACT.
Netball NSW General Manager of Performance & Pathways Mardi Aplin said the selection focus would be the 21U athletes playing in the PROVIDOOR Premier League as well as the QBE Swifts Academy and GIANTS Netball Academy that have not been exposed throughout the SN Reserves competition.
The NSW side will be coached by experienced State Team coach and current Head coach of the NSW Waratah Academy, Jen Wright.
“Due to the success of SN Reserves and the depth of talent in NSW this competition will allow us to expose the athletes to a new level of competition, and to have the opportunity to be elevated into the Australian 21U squad,” she said.
“Netball NSW wanted to support the smaller States by attending ANC and we are excited to send a team to Canberra.
“It is our aim to announce a team at the end of July, while Netball Australia will be providing off-court education throughout the week in the ACT for athletes, coaches & performance staff.”
Tickets to the 2024 Australian Netball Championships will be available for sale from Intix on Wednesday 10 July.
