MELANIE WHELAN: Ballarat chance for Super Netball needs strong structure

Netball's state and national governing bodies have strongly indicated a preference for the now up-for-grabs eighth Super Netball licence to remain in Victoria.

Regional Victoria's potential came flagged by Netball Victoria chief executive officer Andrea Pearman, who this week said it was a "tremendous opportunity" to expand outside Melbourne and tap into a Commonwealth Games legacy "in cities like Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo".

There is no doubting support for the game in regional Victoria is strong - just look to the expanding senior ranks in our country football netball ranks to meet participation demand.

This goes for no matter what form this might be.

If you look to Ballarat Netball Association's success in driving Ballarat Pride from the bottom division to the top in the now-defunct Netball Victoria state league system, it was not enough to sustain long-term demands.

Pride earned a foundation licence into the Victorian Netball League, which launched in 2009 in line with the new Trans-Tasman netball competition. This demanded three divisional teams, up from Pride's one, with the same massive commitments to play almost every match in Melbourne on a Wednesday night - the late game starting at 9.40pm.

To have two home games was a luxury - even though Ballarat fans would pack out the then-rundown Wendouree netball stadium.

When the VNL axed Pride, the Ballarat sporting community fought for a licence under the Sovereigns branding, the tyrannies of distance remained. The program relied too heavily on players based in Melbourne for its marquee team, losing touch with homegrown support and really, the dominant Melbourne clubs had their pick of top players first.

Geelong Cougars have managed to hang on, even netting a championship division title in 2019.

Even if this "tremendous opportunity" came in the form of a second-tier Australian Netball Championships link, or an under-23 franchise, it would need a model to promote competitiveness.

Melbourne has long housed two national teams. Long before Melbourne Vixens and Collingwood, there were Phoenix and the Kestrels - the latter featuring sharp shooter Cynna Kydd, who later set the standard in Central Highlands Netball League with Springbank.

But Phoenix, like Vixens, always felt like the bigger sister.

If Collingwood, arguably Australia's most powerful sporting club, struggled to hold a place on court with the likes of English star defender Geva Mentor, it will undoubtedly take something pretty special to take the 'Pies' spot.

This city has long held and evolved a reputation for being able to host international and national level sport - and in more than a practice match kinda way.

Our best indoor stadium, Ballarat Sports and Events Centre, has hosted in-season Women's National Basketball League matches and will host boxing in the Commonwealth Games. Only, when opened in mid-2019, the 3000-seat showcourt was never going to be big enough for Super Netball crowds, or in-season National Basketball League matches.

Perhaps for an emerging Super Netball franchise, we could be a boutique option to rally support in regional Victoria. In a sense, we do this for Western Bulldogs in their smaller-drawing AFL home games.

We know there are plenty of people in western Victoria who are prepared to travel to Melbourne to watch the Vixens. We can pack BSEC out, and have done for a Vixens' practice match.

Still, in regional Victoria it is hard to go past Bendigo Stadium netball facilities for crowd capacity, broadcasting and the fact our neighbours will host netball in the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Bendigo Spirit's WNBL team has positioned itself as regional Victoria's team before, rallying support in Ballarat basketball ranks before we had BSEC.

There are "tremendous opportunities" for netball's elite to expand into regional Victoria but we need to ensure the right opportunities.

Have you tried The Courier's app? It can be downloaded here.