Not long now until the 2010 ANZ Championships get underway and there have already been a few pre-season tournaments designed to whet our appetites. The season starts on 20^th March and culminates with the Grand Final on 11^th July.

Now in its 3^rd season, the ANZ Championships is often dubbed the best netball tournament in the world; a claim that’s hard to dispute when the competition is comprised of 10 teams from Australia and New Zealand – the world’s top two netballing nations for quite some time now. Apart from a smattering of big name imports from England & Jamaica the players are almost exclusively Aussies & Kiwis.

In the Aussie corner, we have the following franchises:

Adelaide Thunderbirds

Melbourne Vixens (2009 winners)

NSW Swifts (2008 winners)

Queensland Firebirds

West Coast Fever

Across the Tasman representing NZ we have:

Haier Pulse (formerly Central Pulse)

LG Northern Mystics

Mercury Energy Tactix (formerly Canterbury Tactix)

Southern Steel

Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic

In the off-season there have been a number of high profile defections and signings, notably from the Magic camp which is not quite so laden with Silver Ferns as it was last season. So far the Australian teams have been dominating the competition with only Magic and Steel looking capable of breaking the Australians’ stranglehold. Last year both these Kiwi teams made it to the semi-finals and Magic were losing finalists in 2008.

However not everyone is happy with the set up. Diamonds coach Norma Plummer feels that some of the Kiwi outfits aren’t really cutting it and would like to see 6 Australian teams and 4 NZ teams. According to Plummer the current arrangements are hindering the progress of her up and coming players. But does she have a point? Perhaps, the Australian players feel they know all they need to know about their trans-Tasman rivals and beating them all regularly is becoming rather routine. Plummer would even like to see a top team from both England and Jamaica competing to give the championship a more international flavour along the lines of rugby union’s Super 14 competition.

Playing in the ANZ Championships is a huge boost for all the foreign imports and furthers the development of netball in their countries with the experiences they will gain. There’s no doubt that playing against the best in the world will raise your game; just look at how England defenders Sonia Mkoloma (NSW Swifts) and Geva Mentor (Thunderbirds) have developed into one of the world’s most formidable defensive pairings. Playing for an ANZ team will also do no harm to the international careers of Jamaicans Romelda Aiken (Firebirds) and Althea Byfield (Mystics). For all the players competing it’s a chance to impress their respective national coaches as selection for national squads for the Commonwealth Games will take place shortly after the tournament.

Sky Sports NZ and Network Ten in Australia will be broadcasting matches from the competition. The first match will see the Thunderbirds travel to Auckland to take on the Mystics.

Which ANZ team do you support and why? Will a NZ team get their hands on the big trophy this year?