Suncorp Super Netball is Australia's top level national netball league, featuring 8 teams who compete for the annual championship.
From 2008 to 2016, the ANZ Championship represented the highest tier of netball, including teams from both Australia and New Zealand. When this league disbanded, Suncorp Super Netball was established as a new national netball league that would feature only Australian teams. The lineup was made from 5 existing Australian teams, all of whom had played in the ANZ Championship, plus 3 brand new teams. Every state is represented except Tasmania, although Melbourne Vixens do play 1 or 2 home games a season in Launceston.
Netball is one of the most popular sports in Australia, and Suncorp Super Netball attracts large numbers of fans to venues across the country. Since the founding of the league, several different teams have reached and won the Grand Final, with Sunshine Coast Lightning being particularly successful. The Lightning won the inaugural championship in 2017 and made it to the Grand Final for 3 consecutive years, until Melbourne Vixens and West Coast Fever kept them out of contention in 2020.
League Format & Scoring
Each regular season of Suncorp Super Netball is played over 14 rounds, with the 8 teams all playing each other twice, once at home and once away. At the end of the season, the top ranked team is named the minor premiership winner, and the 4 teams ranked highest in the table – known in the league as the ladder – qualify for the finals series.
The finals series begins with 2 semifinals. In the major semifinal, the team ranked 1st in the ladder hosts the team ranked 2nd, and the winner goes through to the Grand Final. In the minor semifinal, the team ranked 3rd hosts the team ranked 4th, and the loser of that match is eliminated from the finals. The next stage is the preliminary final, in which the loser of the major semifinal hosts the winner of the minor semifinal, and the winning team qualifies for the Grand Final. The team that triumphs in the Grand Final is the major premiership winner and the Suncorp Super Netball Champion.
