The 2020

Suncorp Super Netball Suncorp Super Netball is the top level netball league featuring teams from Australia. In 2017 it replaced the ANZ Championship, which also included teams from New Zealand, as the top level netball league in Australia. Since 2019, the league has ...

season was the fourth season of the premier

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

league in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The season was originally scheduled to commence on 2 May, though was delayed to 1 August due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The defending premiers,

New South Wales Swifts New South Wales Swifts are an Australian netball team based in Sydney, New South Wales. Since 2017 they have represented Netball New South Wales in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. The team wa ...

were eliminated in the first week of the finals series by the eventual runners-up

West Coast Fever West Coast Fever is an Australian netball team based in Perth, Western Australia. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they competed in the ANZ Championship. Between 1997 and 2007, as Perth Orioles, th ...

. The premiers were the

Melbourne Vixens Melbourne Vixens is an Australian netball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. Since 2017 they have represented Netball Victoria in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. The team was formed in 2007 ...

, who defeated the Fever by two goals in the Grand Final at

Nissan Arena The Queensland State Netball Centre, also known commercially as Nissan Arena, is a multi-purpose facility located in the southern Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The centre features a 5,000 seat indoor arena that is the home court of Super Netball t ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Overview

Teams

Format

The season is played over fourteen rounds, allowing every team to play each other twice, once at home and once away. The top four teams on the

ladder A ladder is a vertical or inclined set of rungs or steps used for climbing or descending. There are two types: rigid ladders that are self-supporting or that may be leaned against a vertical surface such as a wall, and rollable ladders, such a ...

at the conclusion of the

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

qualify for the

finals series Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. In the first week of the finals series, the 1st ranked team hosts the 2nd ranked team in the major semi-final (with the winner of that match to qualify for the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

) and the 3rd ranked team hosts the 4th ranked team in the minor semi-final (with the loser of that match eliminated). The loser of the major semi-final then hosts the winner of the minor semi-final in the preliminary final. The winner of the major semi-final then hosts the winner of the preliminary final in the Grand Final.

Rule changes

The Super Netball commission announced changes to the league structure in February. Rolling substitutions during play will be permitted, as well as during stoppages and intervals, with no limit to the number of substitutions that can be made, and multiple substitutions allowed to be made at any one time. The substitute must tag hands with the player leaving the court before entering the field of play. Extra time in the event of draws was introduced, after six matches were tied throughout the previous season. The match was to enter one 5-minute period of extra time. If at the end of this period teams remain tied, the match was to have been declared a draw. If a team has a one-goal or greater advantage at the end of the period, they would have been declared the winner. The bonus point system in place for the past two seasons was also supposed to remain in place. However, in the days leading up to the season, the league announced it had scrapped bonus points and extra time, citing the need to mitigate the physical impact of the condensed fixture on the players. Teams were also allowed to increase their match-day squads to 12 players, up from 10 in previous years.

Two-goal super shots

After confirming the return of the league on 1 August, competition administrators announced the introduction of the two-point shot rule alteration. The new rule allows a score of two goals to be awarded to any shooter or attacker who scores in the two-goal zone outside the usual goal circle. The move was met with disapproval from many fans and players, though Super Netball CEO Chris Symington argued "the time is right to introduce an innovation that will make the game even more dynamic and unpredictable". The two-goal shot zone will only be activated in the final five minutes of each quarter and in the five-minute extra time period.

Relocation to Queensland

As a result of an increase in

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

positive tests in Victoria, the league initially announced the temporary relocation of the two Victorian teams (Magpies and Vixens) to Queensland. Shortly afterwards, the league revealed it had come to an arrangement with the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended fr ...

to move all clubs to a hub in

South-East Queensland South East Queensland (SEQ) is a bio-geographical, metropolitan, political and administrative region of the state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million people out of the state's population of 5.1 million. T ...

, thereby allowing a condensed fixture, with most matches played in

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

, Sunshine Coast,

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

and

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

. The two Victorian clubs were required to serve a 14-day quarantine prior to the start of the season.

Player transfers

The league unveiled the list of non-contracted athletes on 14 August 2019, two weeks before that season's finals series were scheduled to commence. Teams had the exclusive right to re-sign any of their existing contracted players, their permanent/temporary replacement players or training partners, on single year or multi-year contracts for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Contracts with players from other teams and leagues could not be announced until the signing period commenced on 16 September 2019. This period closed on 14 October 2019, upon which teams were required to have submitted their 10 senior-listed players for the 2020 season. Training partners could be signed by clubs at any time.

Signings

The following table is a list of players who moved clubs/leagues into Super Netball, or were elevated into a permanent position in the senior team, during the off-season. It does not include players who were re-signed by their original Super Netball clubs. † Indicates player was signed as an injury-replacement player

Pre-season

Bushfire Relief Match

In January 2020,

Netball Australia Netball Australia is the main governing body for netball in Australia. It is affiliated to World Netball. It is responsible for organising and administrating the Australia national netball team, Suncorp Super Netball and the Australian Nati ...

announced an All-Stars match for the pre-season featuring the

Australian Diamonds The Australia national netball team, also known as the Australian Diamonds, represent Netball Australia in international netball tournaments such as the INF Netball World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, the Constellation Cup, the Netball Quad Se ...

and the best players from the Super Netball league. The match was played as a fundraiser for relief efforts for the

2019–20 Australian bushfire season The 201920 Australian bushfire season (Black Summer), was a period of bushfires in many parts of Australia, which, due to its unusual intensity, size, duration, and uncontrollable dimension, is considered a megafire. The Australian National ...

, which had been particularly devastating. The teams were announced on 29 January 2020.

Team Girls Cup

The league's

pre-season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

tournament, known as the Suncorp Team Girls Cup, was set to return for the second time. The tournament would have taken place between 27 and 29 March at the refurbished

Ken Rosewall Arena The Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre is a tennis and multi-purpose sports facility located within the Olympic Park in Parramatta, near Sydney, Australia. The centre was built in 1999 and hosted the tennis events for the 2000 Summer Olympics. Th ...

. However, on 13 March 2020, the league announced that the event would be cancelled due to the

Regular season

* The original fixture was abandoned due to the

. The league unveiled six rounds of the revised fixture on 24 July 2020, though subsequent announcements of travel restrictions in Australia forced those fixtures to be re-arranged.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Ladder

Finals series

Major semi-final

Minor semi-final

----

Preliminary final

----

Grand Final

* Grand Final MVP Winner:

Mwai Kumwenda Mwai Kumwenda ' (born 27 September 1989) is a Malawi netball international player. She represented Malawi at the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games and at the 2011 and 2015 Netball World Cups. Kumwenda was the top goal scorer at three s ...

Awards

The following players were awarded for their performances in the 2020 season: * The

Player of the Year Award Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is h ...

was won by

Jhaniele Fowler Jhaniele Fowler (formerly known as Jhaniele Fowler-Reid; born 21 July 1989) is a professional Jamaican netball player and as of 2018 a member of the West Coast Fever in the Suncorp Super Netball League. Fowler also plays domestic netball in Jam ...

. * The Grand Final MVP Award was won by

of the

. * The Rising Star Award was won by Maisie Nankivell of the

Adelaide Thunderbirds Adelaide Thunderbirds are an Australian netball team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship and between 1997 and 2007, they played in ...

. * The Joyce Brown Coach of the Year award was won by

Simone McKinnis Simone McKinnis is a former Australia netball international and the current head coach of Melbourne Vixens in Suncorp Super Netball. As a player she was a member of the Australia teams that won gold medals at the 1991 and 1995 World Netball C ...

of the

. * The Leading Goalscorer Award was won by

of the

, who scored 795 goals in the regular season, and 979 goals after finals. * The following players were named in the Super Netball Team of the Year: ;Defenders * Goal Keeper:

Geva Mentor Geva Kate Mentor CBE (born 17 September 1984) is an England netball international. She has competed in 6 Commonwealth Games: and in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games she was honoured to read, during the Opening Ceremony, The Athletes Oath ...

(

Collingwood Magpies The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The club w ...

) * Goal Defence:

Karla Pretorius Karla Pretorius (née Mostert; born 12 March 1990) is a South African netball player, currently playing for the Sunshine Coast Lightning and the South Africa SPAR Proteas Netball. She plays in the positions of Goal Defence (GD) and Wing Defence ...

(

Sunshine Coast Lightning Sunshine Coast Lightning are an netball in Australia, Australian netball team based at the University of the Sunshine Coast. The team was formed in 2016 in Australia, 2016 as a joint venture between the university and Melbourne Storm. Since 201 ...

) ;Midcourters * Wing Defence:

Gabi Simpson Gabrielle Simpson (born 17 October 1992), also known as Gabi Simpson, is an Australia netball international. Simpson was vice-captain of the Australia team that won the silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Simpson was also a member of ...

(

Queensland Firebirds Queensland Firebirds are an Australian netball team based in Brisbane, Queensland. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship and between 1997 and 2007, they played in the C ...

) * Centre:

Kate Moloney Kate Moloney is an Australian netballer who plays for the Melbourne Vixens in the Suncorp Super Netball league. As of April 2017, she is the captain of the Vixens. Moloney made her domestic league netball debut for the Vixens in 2013 and was appo ...

(

) * Wing Attack: Liz Watson
(

) ;Attackers * Goal Attack:

Kiera Austin Kiera Austin (born 26 August 1997) is an Australian netball player in the Suncorp Super Netball league, having previously playing for Giants Netball. She injure her ACL and was out for the whole 2021 season and after youngster Sophie Dwyer came i ...

(

Giants Netball Giants Netball (stylised as GIANTS Netball) are an Australian netball team based in Greater Western Sydney, New South Wales. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. The team was formed in 2016 as a joint venture between Netball N ...

) * Goal Shooter:

(

) ;Reserves * Attack Reserve:

Cara Koenen Cara Koenen (born 27 February 1996) is an Australian netball player in the Suncorp Super Netball league, playing for the Sunshine Coast Lightning. Koenan was a foundation player at the Lightning ahead of the club's inaugural season in 2017. She ...

(

) * Micourt Reserve:

Paige Hadley Paige Amber Hadley (born 26 August 1992) is an Australian international netball player. Primarily a wing attack and centre player, Hadley is a member of the Australian national team and plays in the ANZ Championship for the New South Wales Swif ...

(

) * Defence Reserve:

Shamera Sterling Shamera Sterling (born 21 October 1995) is a Jamaican netball player. She was part of the Jamaican squad that won bronze at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Earlier that year she was signed by Loughborough Lightning in the Netball Superleague. Aft ...

(

)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Suncorp

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

2020 in Australian netball Super Netball season