Netball New Zealand members will vote whether to adopt a new zone-based structure at a special meeting in September.
If the changes go ahead, and it appears they will, the country's 12 regional bodies will be disbanded and replaced by five zones, which will be aligned with the New Zealand ANZ Championship franchises.
That will mean Otago and Southland will combine as a new entity called Netball South.
A working party, headed by international umpire Jono Bredin, has been tasked with establishing the new body.
Bredin told the Otago Daily Times the group had made good progress and he believed the anticipated merger would be a seamless transition.
"Everyone is looking forward to what is going to come out of it, really," he said.
"There will continue to be an office in Dunedin and there will continue to be an office in Invercargill.
"The whole restructure is supposed to enhance the delivery of services to the community, not decrease it. So, basically, as a working group, we are looking at ways to achieve that."
As to whether there will be job losses, Bredin believed it was unlikely, suggesting there was no fat to trim.
"If you look at Netball Otago and Netball Southland, they are running pretty lean machines."
While Netball South could not deliver the same level of service to the community if jobs were lost, it was unclear whether the roles would remain the same.
"Whenever there is a restructure, there is always going to be some uncertainty, isn't there?" Paterson said.
"But within Netball Otago, there is only three fulltime positions.
So we already run on the smell of an oily rag, anyway.
"The working group is doing its best to ensure there is a smooth transition ... but I don't think you can look at the people and make jobs. You have to look at what is best for netball and the structure going forward."
Paterson, who stood down from the working group because of a conflict of interest, said staff at Netball Otago and Netball Southland were aware their jobs would be disestablished and they would have to apply for roles in the new organisation if the changes go ahead.
In a statement, Netball New Zealand chief executive Raelene Castle said the national body was pleased with the progress in the south.
"The Netball South working party has approached these changes in a very positive way," Castle said.
"Both the Southland and Otago communities can be assured there is a lot of hard work happening behind the scenes at the moment which we are confident will benefit our sport at all levels."
