The national netball championships will be played under a new format this year, and include an extended five-week round-robin competition from September 6.
The home and away games will culminate with a finals tournament from September 29 to October 4 in Rotorua, with the second division games starting on September 29 and the first division from October 1.
There will be six teams in each division, ranked from last year's championships.
Auckland (1), North (2), Otago (3), Waikato (4), Western (5) and Southland (6) make up division one, with Wellington (7), Canterbury (8), Bay of Plenty (9), Eastern (10), Tasman (11) and Counties Manukau in division two.
The playoffs in Rotorua will feature promotion relegation between the divisions.
Netball New Zealand chief executive Raelene Castle said it was an exciting development for the sport and its 12 regions.
‘‘The new format gives the players the opportunity to play in front of their home crowd. We think this will further develop the regional pride aspect of this competition,'' she said.
