Netball NSW Premier League

The Netball NSW Premier League is a state netball league featuring teams mainly from New South Wales. The league is organised by Netball New South Wales. The Premier League was first played for during the 2016 season. It replaced the Dooleys State League's Waratah Cup as the top level netball competition in New South Wales. On a national level, the Premier League is effectively a third level league. NNSWPL teams compete in two divisions – the Opens and the Under-23s.^[1]

Netball NSW Premier League

Sport	Netball
Founded	2016
Owner(s)	Netball New South Wales
No. of teams	10 (2022)
Country	Australia
Venue(s)	Netball Central
Most recent champion(s)	North Shore United (2020)
TV partner(s)	CluchTV
Sponsor(s)	Providoor
Level on pyramid	3
Official website	www.nnswpremierleague.com.au

History

Earlier state leagues

The Premier League replaced the Dooleys State League's Waratah Cup as the top level netball competition in New South Wales. Several of the netball associations that entered teams in the Waratah Cup successfully applied to enter franchises in the Premier League. These included the Eastwood Ryde Netball Association, the Manly Warringah Netball Association and the Sutherland Shire Netball Association who respectively formed ERNA Hawks, Manly Warringah Sapphires and Sutherland Stingrays.^[2][3][4]

2016

The Netball NSW Premier League was first played for during the 2016 season. The eight founding franchises were Central Coast Heart, ERNA Hawks, GWS Fury, Manly Warringah Sapphires, North Shore United, Panthers, Sutherland Stingrays and UTS St George Sparks. Sutherland Stingrays were crowned the inaugural Opens Champions after an defeating Manly Warringah Sapphires 50–49 in the grand final. Panthers were the inaugural Under-20 premiers.^[5][6][7]

2017

Manly Warringah Sapphires won the 2017 Opens title after defeating a UTS St George Sparks team featuring Kristina Brice and Beryl Friday, 59–56 in the grand final. A Sparks team featuring Matilda McDonell defeated Panthers 55–49 in the Under-20 grand final.^[8][9]

2018

In 2018, Amy Wild captained Central Coast Heart as they defeated ERNA Hawks 60–55 in the Open's grand final. Wild was also awarded both the Netball NSW President's Medal as the Grand Final MVP and the Nance Kenny OAM Medal as the NNSWPL Player of the Year. In the Under-20 grand final, North Shore United defeated GWS Fury 56–44.^{[10][11][12][13]}

2019

ERNA Hawks won the 2019 Opens title after defeating Central Coast Heart 68–44 in the grand final. The under-20 competition was now changed to an under-23 competition. GWS Fury became the first Under-23 champions after defeating Manly Warringah Sapphires 60–52 in the grand final.^{[14][15][16][17]} After the first four seasons of the NNSWPL, all the original eight franchises have being crowned champions at least once in either the Under-20s, Under-23s or Opens.^[18][19]

2020

The 2020 season saw the addition of two new franchises – The Capital Spirit and South Coast Blaze. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the season took place later in the year. It also featured a new condensed format. In both the Opens and Under-23 divisions, teams were split into two conferences. All teams played the other teams in their conference twice and each team in the other conference once. The top two teams from each conference then contested a two-week finals series. In the Opens division, North Shore United, coached by Rebecca Bulley, were crowned champions after a 56–44 grand final win over ERNA Hawks. In the Under-23 grand final, UTS Randwick Sparks defeated South Coast Blaze 44–32.^{[20][21][22][23][24][25][26]}

2021

With the minor rounds almost complete, the 2021 season was initially suspended and then abandoned after a public health order caused the closure of Netball Central due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^{[27][28][29][30]}

2022

Ahead of the 2022 season a new format was announced for both the Opens and Under-23s. There will be 14 regular rounds with all teams playing each other once in the opening nine before they split into conferences for the final five. All teams will play their respective conference opponents once between Rounds 10 and 14. The top three sides from each conference will then progress to the finals series.^[31][32]

Teams

Team	Home venue/base	Home city/town/suburb	Debut season
The Capital Spirit[33][34]		Australian Capital Territory	2020
Central Coast Heart[35][36]	Niagara Park Stadium	Central Coast	2016
ERNA Hawks[37]		Eastwood/Ryde	2016
GWS Fury[38]		Greater Western Sydney	2016
Manly Warringah Sapphires[39][40]		Northern Beaches	2016
North Shore United[41]		Ku-ring-gai/Northern Sydney	2016
Panthers Netball[42]		Penrith/Hawkesbury/Blue Mountains	2016
IMB South Coast Blaze[43][44]		South Coast	2020
Sutherland Stingrays[4][45]		Sutherland Shire	2016
UTS Randwick Sparks[46][47]		University of Technology Sydney	2016

Notes

• ^1 UTS Randwick Sparks originally played as UTS St George Sparks.
• ^2 Panthers Netball are affiliated with Penrith Panthers.^[48]

Source:^[49]

Venues

Since 2016, Netball Central has been the host venue for the Netball NSW Premier League.^[50]

Media coverage

Between 2016 and 2020, NNSWPL matches were live streamed across Netball New South Wales's social media channels by BarTV Sports. The lead commentator was ABC Grandstand's Brittany Carter. Her co-commentators included Sonia Mkoloma.^{[5][8][10][14][23][51]} Ahead of the 2021 season, CluchTV was announced as the league's new live stream partner. Carter remained the lead commentator.^[31][32][52]

Division 1 grand finals

Dooleys State League - Waratah Cup

Season	Winners	Score	Runners Up	Venue
2007[53]	Sydney Storm		Eastwood/Ryde
2008
2009[54]	Manly-Warringah		Eastwood Ryde
2010[55]	Manly-Warringah	58–45	Sutherland Shire	Anne Clark Netball Centre
2011[56]	Manly-Warringah	52–45	Baulkham Hills	Anne Clark Netball Centre
2012[57][58]	Sutherland Shire	45–43	Eastwood Ryde	Anne Clark Netball Centre
2013[59][60][61]	Eastwood Ryde	50–46	Sutherland-Shire	Anne Clark Netball Centre
2014[62]	St George		Eastwood Ryde	Anne Clark Netball Centre
2015[63]	City of Sydney/Sydney University	53–40	Eastwood Ryde	Netball Central

Netball NSW Premier League Opens

Season	Winners	Score	Runners Up	Venue
2016[5][6]	Sutherland Stingrays	50–49	Manly-Warringah Sapphires	Genea Netball Centre
2017[8][9]	Manly-Warringah Sapphires	59–56	UTS St George Sparks	Genea Netball Centre
2018[10][11][12]	Central Coast Heart	60–55	ERNA Hawks	Genea Netball Centre
2019[14][15]	ERNA Hawks	68–44	Central Coast Heart	Netball Central
2020[23][24][25]	North Shore United	56–44	ERNA Hawks	Netball Central
2021	(Note 3)

Notes

• ^3 The 2021 season was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New South Wales.

Source:^[17]

Minor premierships

Dooleys State League - Waratah Cup

Season	Winners
2007[53]	Sydney Storm
2008[64]	NSWIS
2009[54]	Eastwood Ryde
2010[55]	Manly-Warringah
2011[56]	Manly-Warringah
2012[57]	Eastwood Ryde
2013[59]	Sutherland-Shire
2014[62]	St George
2015[63]	City of Sydney/Sydney University

Netball NSW Premier League Opens

Season	Winners
2016[5]	Sutherland Stingrays
2017[8][9]	UTS St George Sparks
2018[10][11]	ERNA Hawks
2019[14]	Central Coast Heart
2020[23]	?
2021	(Note 3)

Awards

Nance Kenny OAM Medal

The league's MVP award is named after Nance Kenny OAM.

Season	Winner	Team
2000	Shay Barley	NSWIS
2001	Nerida Stewart	Kuring-gai
2002	Nerida Stewart	Kuring-gai
2003	Tanya Lund	Manly Warringah
2004 (Note 4)	Kelly Adamson	Penrith
2004 (Note 4)	Megan Bertenshaw	Hawkesbury
2005[65]	Samantha May	Sydney Storm
2006 (Note 4)	Katie Walker	Manly-Warringah
2006 (Note 4)	Applee Kennengiesser	Penrith
2007[53]	Joanne Day	Eastwood/Ryde
2008[66]	Landell Archer	Fairfield City/Sydney University
2009[54]	Kelly Adamson	Hunter/Central Coast United
2010[55]	Tiffany Lincoln	Manly-Warringah
2011[56] (Note 4)	Kimberly Borger	St George District
2011[56] (Note 4)	Samantha May	Baulkham Hills
2012[57]	Tiffany Lincoln	Hunter United
2013[59]	Leah Shoard	Sutherland Shire
2014[62]	Kaitlyn Bryce	St George District
2015[63]	Kaitlyn Bryce	St George District
2016[5]	Kristen Kessler	Central Coast Heart
2017[8] (Note 4)	Maddie Hay	Sutherland Stingrays
2017[8] (Note 4)	Maddie Taylor	Central Coast Heart
2018[10][12]	Amy Wild	Central Coast Heart
2019[14]	Maddie Taylor	Central Coast Heart
2020[23][67][68]	Lauren Woods	Panthers
2021[69][70]	Toni Anderson	Sutherland Stingrays

Sources:^{[17][53][54][65]}

Notes

• ^4 The medal was shared

Netball NSW President's Medal

Grand Final MVP

Season	Winner	Team
2012[58]	Paula Mitchell	Sutherland Shire
2013[60][61]	Jo Day	Eastwood Ryde
2016[5]	Maddie Hay	Sutherland Stingrays
2017[9]	Georgia Marshall	Manly-Warringah Sapphires
2018[12]	Amy Wild	Central Coast Heart
2019	Georgia Marshall	ERNA Hawks
2020[23]	Ash Fong	North Shore United

Source:^[17]

Under-23s

Grand finals

Season	Winners	Score	Runners Up	Venue
2016[5][7]	Panthers	63–50	UTS St George Sparks	Genea Netball Centre
2017[8][9]	UTS St George Sparks	55–49	Panthers	Genea Netball Centre
2018[10][13]	North Shore United	56–44	GWS Fury	Genea Netball Centre
2019[14][16]	GWS Fury	60–52	Manly Warringah Sapphires	Netball Central
2020[23][26]	UTS Randwick Sparks	44–32	South Coast Blaze	Netball Central
2021	(Note 3)

Notes

• ^3 The 2021 competition was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New South Wales.
• ^5 The Under 23s Division ran as an Under 20s competition from 2016 to 2018.^[18]

Source:^[17]

Main sponsors

	Years
Samsung[5][8]	2016–2017
Origin Energy[18][19]	2020–

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External links

• Netball NSW Premier League on Facebook
• Netball NSW Premier League on Twitter
• Netball NSW Premier League on Instagram