But the new Collingwood Magpies Netball Club’s bold proposal will be relying on government support to bring the elite game to Tasmania for the first time.

“That’s all in negotiation between the Tasmanian government and our Magpies club at the moment,” the club’s inaugural coach Kristy Keppich-Birrell said.

“That will be exciting if it comes to fruition and then also how the club can also be down there are various times during the year.”

The Magpies, one of three new entities since Netball Australia amicably ended the Trans-Tasman league with New Zealand this year, entered a partnership with Netball Tasmania this year.

Netball Tasmania has been pushing for greater involvement to include hosting regular season club matches. 

“I think the proposal is that we are looking at possible matches,” she said.

“That is to bring the club down there and have the netball public have that experience – so that’s certainly a part of our proposal.

“I guess I can’t definitely say it will happen, but we have really great hopes that the partnership with the government will happen and we’ll be down there playing the game at the highest level in one of the two major cities in the state.”

But Keppich-Birrell said the partnership was about more than just getting a foothold in Tasmania and bums on seats at the Silverdome.

“It’s about gaining some momentum, getting that grassroots supporter base, but it’s also around making sure athletes in Netball Tasmania has a pathway to the top,” she said.

Collingwood is wanting a feeder side for the state in the second-tier ANL under the new national league.

Keppich-Birrell admitted a number of Tasmanian netballers are on the club’s radar.

“We’re looking for a strong alignment between those players and any players that sit between our training partners (in Tasmania) within the club,” she said.

“I’m not at liberty to be able to tell you the players on the list even though I would love to, but it’s an exciting list.

Keppich-Birrell will be delivering a presentation at the Explore Netball conference in Launceston on Sunday.

She said it was a “great honour” to be invited for Netball Tasmania’s initiative and will establish growth in the partnership.

“To be able to speak about the development in the new national league and my role with the new Magpies netball team is fantastic and talk about the top end of where our players need to hit towards nationally,” she said.