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National | Netball

Australia splits from ANZ Trans-Tasman netball championships

After weeks of speculation today it was confirmed Australia will be splitting from the ANZ Trans-Tasman netball competition.

So where to from here for NZ netball? New Zealand teams see a silver lining.

Catherine Tuivaiti says, “I think there's a flare and a natural ability in NZ that we might have lost along the way in this ANZ champs, so I think it's a great opportunity to preserve our kiwi style.”

Maria Tutaia says, “I think going domestic, yeah, to bring the love back to our communities, to our fans to us really wouldn’t be such a bad thing for us.”

Rumours had been swirling for weeks that a split was imminent.

NZ Netball CEO Hillary Poole says, “It’s about us investing in New Zealand for the longer term and we really felt that this option best met those objective.”

2017 will see a new standalone domestic competition in New Zealand with a new team from Auckland joining our five regional teams.

However, fears are now arising that New Zealand players might jump boat for greener pastures in Australia.

Tuivaiti says, “I would toy with that idea, I think they've got a great system in place and I'd love to see whats there and I've been at the club for 9 years now so change is obviously something that I'm open to all the time. But again I do think that we have a certain style here in NZ that I love and that is part of me.'”

Tutaia says, “If the offer does come then maybe but right now my mind is here with the Mystics and here in NZ.”

The competition will conclude at the end of this year's ANZ Champs.