Tasmania will return to the Australian Netball League next year.
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The Tasmania Magpies will provide a feeder side for Collingwood’s entry into the national netball league.
The newly-aligned ANL squad will now replace the Tasmanian Spirit that took a two-year hiatus at the end of 2014 for Netball Tasmania’s high-performance program.
Collingwood Magpies coach Kristy Keppich-Birrell believed Netball Tasmania’s partnership with the new club will be stronger than the former Spirit entity.
Discussions with Netball Tasmania chief executive Julia Phillips have come to a mutual agreement on key points satisfying both parties.
“It’s logistically challenging, but Julia and myself have had really good conversations how we would set it up,” Keppich-Birrell said.
“We’ll have a particular training group based in Tasmania with some of the coaches already here (in Tasmania) high-performance coaches that are already elite.
“We have players currently sitting in the VNL (in Melbourne), who have moved across from Tasmania and we have our training partners.
“So a side would be a culmination of three or even four groups that would come together to compete, which is going to be challenging but it’s all around making sure we are creating the best learning space for our athletes.”
Netball Australia this year mooted plans that national league clubs – including Collingwood Magpies and other new entrants, Greater Western Sydney and the Sunshine Coast – would have aligned ANL sides.
Keppich-Birrell believed the five pre-existing ANZ championships clubs after the amicable break-up with New Zealand could have a head start on the new sides.
But she is confident her club will be able to attract all ex-Tassie players to its feeder side out of state loyalty.
“We’re about the greatness of the game and supporting Tasmanian athletes into that league,” Keppich-Birrell said.
“Of course, we would love them to play for us, but if opportunities open up because of what they’ve experienced in Tasmania or Tasmanians through the VNL, or anything we are able to offer, we will be very excited for them.”
While Collingwood are in talks with the Tasmanian government for support to host national league games next year, whether an ANL side would play home games out of Launceston, Hobart or both has yet to be decided.
Netball Tasmania favours the Silverdome as its preferred venue that extended to the 2016 21-and-under national championships and next month’s Trans-Tasman Test match in Launceston.