SUNCORP SUPER NETBALL LEAGUE: WHERE CHAMPIONS SHINE

The Super Netball League primarily referred to as Suncorp Super Netball (SSN) due to sponsorship, is Australia’s professional netball competition. Established in 2017, it replaced the ANZ Championship as the premier domestic netball league, excluding New Zealand teams.

Netball Australia has overseen the league through an independent commission since 2019. The league enjoys sponsorship from Suncorp Group, with the inaugural SSN champions being Sunshine Coast Lightning.

HISTORY AND FORMATION

In May 2016, Netball Australia and Netball New Zealand announced the discontinuation of the ANZ Championship after the 2016 season. Australia introduced a replacement league initially referred to as the National Netball League.

It included the former Australian ANZ Championship teams (Adelaide Thunderbirds, Melbourne Vixens, New South Wales Swifts, Queensland Firebirds, and West Coast Fever), along with three new franchises: Collingwood Magpies, Giants Netball, and Sunshine Coast Lightning.

Coached by Noeline Taurua and captained by Geva Mentor, Sunshine Coast Lightning clinched the inaugural championship in 2017. They defeated Giants Netball 65–48 in the grand finale. The following year, in 2018, they repeated their success by securing the title again. They triumphed over West Coast Fever with a score of 62–59 in the grand finale.

Suncorp Super Netball League -Current Teams

CLUB	LOCATION	STATE	HOME VENUE	EST.
Adelaide Thunderbirds	Adelaide	South Australia	Netball SA Stadium	1996
Giants Netball	Sydney	New South Wales	Ken Rosewall Arena	2016
Melbourne Vixens	Melbourne	Victoria	John Cain Arena	2007
New South Wales Swifts	Sydney	New South Wales	Ken Rosewall Arena	2007
Queensland Firebirds	Brisbane	Queensland	Nissan Arena	1996
Sunshine Coast Lightning	Sunshine Coast	Queensland	USC Stadium	2016
West Coast Fever	Perth	Western Australia	RAC Arena	1996

Suncorp Super Netball League –Current Venues

ARENA	CURRENT NAME	LOCATION	STATE	CAPACITY	EST. IN SSN	HOME TEAM(S)
Sydney SuperDome	Qudos Bank Arena	Sydney	New South Wales	18,000	2017	New South Wales Swifts
Perth Arena	RAC Arena	Perth	Western Australia	14,500	2017	West Coast Fever
John Cain Arena	Hisense Arena (2017–2018)	Melbourne Arena (2018–2020)	Melbourne	10,500	2017	Victoria
Ken Rosewall Arena		Sydney	New South Wales	10,000	2021	New South Wales Swifts, Giants Netball
Adelaide Entertainment Centre		Adelaide	South Australia	9,600	2018	Adelaide Thunderbirds
Queensland State Netball Centre	Nissan Arena (2019–present)	Brisbane	Queensland	5,000	2019	Queensland Firebirds
Netball SA Stadium	Priceline Stadium (2017–2020)	Adelaide	South Australia	3,200	2017	Adelaide Thunderbirds
Silverdome		Launceston	Tasmania	3,200	2017
UniSC Arena	USC Stadium (2017–2022)	Sunshine Coast	Queensland	3,000	2017	Sunshine Coast Lightning

SEASON STRUCTURE

Pre-season

Starting in 2019, the Team Girls Cup, a structured round-robin tournament, has been organized. It is named after a campaign introduced in 2017 with the goal of reducing junior netball dropout rates.

The league’s eight teams are split into two pools, competing against each team within their respective pool once. Following this, a fourth-round is held to determine overall rankings across both pools.

The championship match takes place between the top-ranked teams from each pool. Matches occur over three consecutive days at a single venue. Host cities for the tournament have included Brisbane, Melbourne, and the Gold Coast.

List of Team Girls Cup Champions

SEASON	PREMIERS	RUNNERS-UP	SCORE	VENUE
2019	Collingwood Magpies	Melbourne Vixens	39–33	Queensland State Netball Centre
2020	Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic	Ken Rosewall Arena	—
2021	Not held due to COVID-19 pandemic
2022	Melbourne Vixens	West Coast Fever	45–43	Parkville Stadium
2023	West Coast Fever	Adelaide Thunderbirds	49–41	Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre

Regular Season

The regular season is played across 14 rounds, with the league’s eight teams playing each other twice in home and away fixtures.

Suncorp Super Netball Winners

SEASON	PREMIERS	RUNNERS-UP	SCORE	VENUE
2017	Sunshine Coast Lightning	Giants Netball	65–48	Brisbane Entertainment Centre
2018	Sunshine Coast Lightning (2)	West Coast Fever	62–59	Perth Arena
2019	New South Wales Swifts	Sunshine Coast Lightning	64–47	Brisbane Entertainment Centre
2020	Melbourne Vixens	West Coast Fever (2)	66–64	Nissan Arena
2021	New South Wales Swifts(2)	Giants Netball (2)	63–59	Nissan Arena
2022	West Coast Fever	Melbourne Vixens	70–59	RAC Arena
2023	Adelaide Thunderbirds	New South Wales Swifts	60–59	John Cain Arena

Suncorp Super Netball Player of the Year Award Winners

The Suncorp Super Netball Player of the Year Award is an annual Suncorp Super Netball award recognising the person considered to be the best netballer in each season of the competition. The current holder of the award is Jhaniele Fowler, who is currently the only player in the league to have won the award on more than occasions.

SEASON	PLAYER	NATIONALITY	TEAM
2017	Geva Mentor	England	Sunshine Coast Lightning
2018	Jhaniele Fowler	Jamaica	West Coast Fever
2019	Jhaniele Fowler	Jamaica	West Coast Fever
2020	Jhaniele Fowler	Jamaica	West Coast Fever
2021	Jhaniele Fowler	Jamaica	West Coast Fever
2022	Jhaniele Fowler	Jamaica	West Coast Fever
2023	Eleanor Cardwell	England	Adelaide Thunderbirds

Suncorp Super Netball MVP Winners

The Suncorp Super Netball Grand Final Most Valuable Player (MVP) is an annual award presented in Australia. This award is granted to the standout player of the Grand Final. The inaugural recipient in 2017 was Karla Mostert, now known as Karla Pretorius.

SEASON	PLAYER	NATIONALITY	TEAM
2017	Karla Mostert	South Africa	Sunshine Coast Lightning
2018	Caitlin Bassett	Australia	Sunshine Coast Lightning (2)
2019	Samantha Wallace	Trinidad and Tobago	New South Wales Swifts
2020	Mwai Kumwenda	Malawi	Melbourne Vixens
2021	Maddy Turner	Australia	New South Wales Swifts
2022	Sasha Glasgow	Australia	West Coast Fever
2023	Eleanor Cardwell	England	Adelaide Thunderbirds

Suncorp Super Netball Goal-scorer Award Winners

The Suncorp Super Netball Leading Goal-scorer Award is presented annually within the Suncorp Super Netball competition in Australia. This award acknowledges the player who records the highest number of goals during the regular season of Suncorp Super Netball, excluding the finals.

SEASON	PLAYER	NATIONALITY	TEAM	GOALS
2017	Caitlin Thwaites	Australia	Collingwood Magpies	594
2018	Jhaniele Fowler	Jamaica	West Coast Fever	783
2019	Jhaniele Fowler	Jamaica	West Coast Fever	709
2020	Jhaniele Fowler	Jamaica	West Coast Fever	795
2021	Jhaniele Fowler	Jamaica	West Coast Fever	883
2022	Jhaniele Fowler	Jamaica	West Coast Fever	929
2023	Shamera Sterling	Jamaica	Adelaide Thunderbirds	699

Suncorp Super Netball Young Star Award Winners

The Suncorp Super Netball Young Star Award, also known as the Rookie of the Year or Rising Star, is a yearly honor within the Suncorp Super Netball competition.

This award acknowledges exceptional on-court accomplishments by a Suncorp Super Netball athlete. Until 2022, eligibility for the award required the netballer to be under 23 years of age at the season’s start. However, the criteria were revised in 2022, eliminating the age requirement and instead recognizing any player who participates in at least five games during their debut year in the league.

SEASON	PLAYER	NATIONALITY	TEAM
2017	Liz Watson	Australia	Melbourne Vixens
2018	Jess Anstiss	Australia	West Coast Fever
2019	Amy Parmenter	Australia	Giants Netball
2020	Maisie Nankivell	Australia	Adelaide Thunderbirds
2021	Sophie Dwyer	Australia	Giants Netball
2022	Donnell Wallam	Australia	Queensland Firebirds
2023	Ruby Bakewell-Doran	Australia	Queensland Firebirds

Frequently Asked Questions