By Linda Pearce
While Rod Laver Arena is the ultimate destination for both Melbourne teams in the newly named and fixtured Suncorp Super Netball league, with the first perhaps as early as 2018, the Vixens and Magpies will split their games between Hisense Arena and the smaller Margaret Court Arena in the meantime.
Netball Victoria chief executive Rosie King said the Vixens' three games at MCA would potentially present some capacity issues, considering the intimate venue holds around 3000 fewer spectators than Hisense. The Vixens will also have to play three 8.45pm Saturday games, with the late timeslot less-than-ideal for regional fans and children.
The launch of the impressive Collingwood Magpies netball team in September.Credit: Eddie Jim
"Generally we're OK with the fixture," said King, who was recently lured from AFL club Geelong to head Netball Victoria and, by extension, the Vixens. "Those three games at Margaret Court will certainly put pressure on ticket availability, so we're definitely suggesting that people get in and buy their tickets early."
Asked whether, in an ideal world, all seven Vixens home games would be staged at Hisense, King said: "In an ideal world we'd be playing down the road at Rod Laver. That would increase our capacity to 15,000, so that's what we'd like, and certainly we'd be hoping that we can achieve that [for 2018] once that's been redeveloped.
"We'll certainly be having the appropriate discussions at that time. It's something that we've discussed internally and that we'd like to explore."
Clubs were invited to provide feedback on their draft fixture, and King said the Vixens had done so. Their local rivals, the Magpies, have the same mix of eight Saturday night, five Sunday afternoon and one Friday night game, but just one TV-driven 8.45pm start. The two Melbourne clubs meet in rounds one and seven at Hisense.
"I think on one hand we could be disappointed with those late games, but on the other hand, it's going to appeal to a different market that we're probably not already in, so it will provide other opportunities," King said. "We can think about other hospitality offerings and other types of entertainment ... not to isolate our current fans but to also enhance what we've got. And I guess our job is to work and do the best job that we can with what we've been presented. We're not unhappy with the fixture; we'll just work with it within our capabilities."
Collingwood, too, were in diplomatic mode after the release of the eight-team national league's inaugural fixture, despite one of three new clubs - along with the Giants and Sunshine Coast Lightning - having been designated just two home games in the first six rounds. Jen McIntyre, the Pies' general manager of netball, said the club was "really happy" with the draw, highlighted by the local derbies around the country in round one, regular family friendly Sunday games, the double-header initiative, and few clashes with Collingwood's AFL program.
"We've only got one [8.45pm start, which is the second of a double-header, and with the double-header comes the opportunity to have more netball," McIntyre said. "And in the part I guess there's been that criticism of netball that it's over so quickly, the game's only for an hour, so when you're coming along at seven o'clock on a Saturday night, at least you've got two games and I guess as a family you probably need to prepare for that so that you can get home and get the kids to bed. We've got one and we'll go into that as positively as we can."
Also notable is the fact that, unlike the the alternate-home-weekend system the AFL tends to employ with its same-state teams such as Fremantle and West Coast, some rounds will host two games in Melbourne and some, including round two, none at all.
"I guess I had envisaged there would be netball in Melbourne every weekend but that's not the case," McIntyre said. "Yes, the double-headers do complicate that, and venue availability as well.
"We've got a couple of games at Margaret Court, which we're really happy about, because it feels quite intimate when you're watching it. But we are hoping that we'll be playing in Rod Laver in a couple of years."
The 14-round regular season will run from February 18 to May 25, featuring two prime time Saturday night matches and the other two in Friday night and Sunday afternoon timeslots. A three-week finals series will follow, culminating with the grand final on Saturday, June 17.