Netball New Zealand (NNZ) is set to launch a national league to run in conjunction with the ANZ Championship next year.
While details are not set in concrete, NNZ chief executive Hilary Poole told the Otago Daily Times good progress was being made on the proposed league.
It will replace the national championships, most recently held last week in Wellington, and will feature one team from each of the five zones - South, Mainland, Central, Waikato-Bay of Plenty and Northern - in its first year, before possibly expanding to eight teams in 2017.
It is proposed the teams will play a double round-robin, followed by finals, between April and June.
Fourteen matches would be played after ANZ Championship games on Sundays, with seven stand-alone games on Saturdays, Poole said.
''We are working through the details now with the zones around the rules and eligibility,'' she said.
''But it will primarily be for New Zealand based and committed players to give them the development opportunity.
''We know that on average 9.7 players took the court in the ANZ Championship out of the 12 players.
''So it will give the opportunity for some movement up and down between the squads. So you might have some of the bench-sitters in the ANZ Championship play in the national league.''
Poole has so far met with the North, Waikato-Bay of Plenty and Central zones regarding the league, and will meet representatives from Netball South in Balclutha in the weekend.
The proposed league appears to be similar to the defunct Lois Muir Challenge, a feeder series for ANZ Championship teams in 2008 and 2009.
Poole said the proposed league was needed to increase player depth and quality in the country.
''What we've tried to do with our competition review, which has led to this setting up of a national league underpinning the ANZ Championship, is to be very clear on what is a participation tournament versus what is a performance tournament,'' she said.
Commercial opportunities will be limited in the league's first year, but Poole hopes the games played on Sundays will be televised live.
It would be up to each zone to determine whether it charged fans to watch the games, she said.
While the week-long national championships is set to become a thing of the past, it could be replaced by another tournament to be played in the second half of the year.
''We can see the role of a national participation tournament. We could look at a national club competition, where we could get a lot more teams,'' she said.
The national under-23, under-19 and under-17 tournaments could also see change in the future, but would not be affected next year.
Netball New Zealand will confirm the launch and details of the national league next month.
