But equally she believes now is not the time to be parochial. The region needs to think about the bigger picture.
Under Netball New Zealand's proposal, the regional set-up would be replaced by a zone-based model. In short, the country's 12 regions would be replaced by five zones which would be aligned with the five ANZ Championship franchises.
For the South, that would mean the boards of the Steel, Netball Southland and Netball Otago would be disbanded and a new board would be formed.
It is a major overhaul and Paterson believes the current structure is working well in the South.
"I think we are one of the regions where it does work," she said.
"But the comments from Netball New Zealand is that it is not working right across the country so we have to think about what is best for netball and not about what is happening on our back doorstep."
Netball New Zealand chief executive Raelene Castle last week said the current structure worked fine until the advent of the ANZ Championship, which added another layer of management. Netball has become top-heavy with 12 regions and five ANZ Championships franchises.
There is overlap, particularly in Auckland where Netball North, Auckland-Waitakere, Counties Manukau and the Northern Mystics all operate out of the city.
Otago and Southland make up about 10% of New Zealand's netball population and the two main centres, Dunedin and Invercargill, service a large area. Combining both boards and operating out of one city could make servicing the game a real challenge. Netball Otago is already stretched with a skeleton staff of just three.
However, if the restructure goes ahead that does not necessarily mean job loses, Paterson said.
"There will still be opportunities but it will be the role of the new board zone CEO to look at how those jobs are structured.
"I think they will want to keep good people on. I don't think it is about cutting jobs so much as it is about using the resources more wisely."
Netball New Zealand members will vote on the proposals at the national body's annual general meeting in February.
