Netball: Afternoon focus to ANZ Championship

Lana Winders.
Lana Winders.
The Steel will play two marquee teams in Dunedin next season while games in New Zealand have been switched to an afternoon focus.

The ANZ championship draw was released yesterday and the Steel's season will begin with a match against the Northern Mystics in Auckland.

The competition starts a month later than this year which started in the first weekend in March as the world netball championships were played in August.

But with no world championships, the season has moved back to its regular time slot and the Steel's first game will be on April 1.

The Southern Steel will host the usual seven games with five matches in Invercargill and two in Dunedin.

The Steel will take on the Mystics in Dunedin on May 29 and will also face the defending champions, the Firebirds, in Dunedin, at the Edgar Centre on June 11.

Steel chief executive Lana Winders was happy with the draw.

''From our perspective it's fantastic in terms of delivering events the calibre of what we are striving to achieve in 2016. To have all of our home games scheduled as afternoon fixtures makes it very user-friendly for our members and our wider fan base,'' she said.

''We are in the throes of extensive planning to ensure we exceed expectations on and off the court next season and that's an incredibly exciting process.

''We are looking forward to sharing those initiatives with our Steel community throughout the region from Waitaki to the Bluff.''

Changes brought in this year will result in weekly Saturday twilight games while the Sunday night match in New Zealand will be brought forward to Sunday afternoon as the league looks to stagger games across the weekend.

The matches on Sunday afternoons are designed to help bring in families.

The final will be played in the last weekend of July.

 


Steel draw

v Mystics, April 1, Auckland
v Tactix, April 10, Invercargill
v Magic, April 17, Rotorua
v Pulse, April 24, Invercargill
v Fever April 30, Invercargill
v Thunderbirds, May 8, AdelaideBye
v Pulse, May 23, Wellington
v Mystics, May 29, Dunedin
v Tactix, June 5, Christchurch
v Firebirds, June 11, Dunedin
v Magic, June 19, Invercargill
v Vixens, June 25, Invercargill
v Swifts, July 2, Sydney


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