SEN to run new Victorian Super Netball team

A NEW Melbourne Super Netball team will be run by Netball Australia in a caretaker role for the remainder of the year before being handed over to licensee Sports Entertainment Network.

The governing body revealed on Friday that a team based in southeast Melbourne would be the eighth team in the 2024 competition, replacing Collingwood.

The Magpies announced in May they would axe their netball program after struggling for on-court success and to build a fan base in their seven years in the competition.

Still to be named, the new team is owned by the media group which has radio network SEN and the Perth Wildcats NBL side among four basketball teams in its stable.

It was the winning bid against a Netball Victoria proposal for a regional team.

The Australian Diamonds were told of the decision ahead of their Friday flight to South Africa to compete in the Netball World Cup.

Due to the short lead-in to the 2024 competition, a subsidiary of NA will oversee player contracting to the new side.

Netball Australia CEO Kelly Ryan said contracting for all franchises would start immediately after the World Cup on 7 August, provided the Team Participation Agreement and Collective Player Agreement were signed off, with all 80 players off contract on 30 September.

Collingwood co-captain Geva Mentor has already signed with an English Super League netball club after spending 15 years playing in Australia.

“We needed this process to be run at incredible speed… player signings have been a huge priority for us in order to be able to provide a level of certainty to our players,” said Ryan.

“Because we had such rapid timelines, the quickest and easier way was for us to stand up in caretaker mode for a short time because we have already asked a lot of Craig [Hutchison] and his team.

“It will run at arm’s length of the Netball Australia business and will still be largely run by SEN group but we will play that role until the end of the year when it 100 per cent officially migrates.”

SEN boss Hutchison said the team’s branding and home base as well as the coach and players would soon be revealed.

Former England coach Tracey Neville, who was assistant coach at champions Adelaide this season, has been linked to the new franchise as well as former Diamonds mentor Lisa Alexander.

“The coaching process is ongoing and will be led by the independence of the NA caretaker board to go through that process and we anticipate it happening quickly,” Hutchison said.

“There’s an incredible talent pool available of coaches and we’ve been overwhelmed by the interest and calibre of candidate.

“An experienced and established coach is a huge priority… we’re confident we’ve got a couple of options there and we anticipate that happening in the coming days.”

Hutchison flagged further moves into the sport in Australia and New Zealand, where they own the Otago Nuggets basketball team and have the radio rights to their domestic netball competition.

He believed the netball franchise would turn a profit.

“We have four sports teams and this was a little sooner than we had intended to branch out into the fifth but the opportunity to do that was great,” he said.

“This will be the first of many moves for us in the sport, we can’t wait to get into it.

“It’s very rare that you get to build a sporting team from the ground up… with a fresh set of eyes, fresh perspective and the ability to be unencumbered by history, that’s a great opportunity.”