Giants keen to maintain Super Netball presence in Canberra

The Super Netball season was due to start on Saturday, May 2 and has been deferred until at least June 30 due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the situation to be reviewed later this month.

The Giants were scheduled to host the Queensland Firebirds at the AIS Arena on May 30 to mark the final instalment of a three-year deal between Netball NSW and the ACT government.

Super Netball officials are edging closer to finalising plans for the competition's resumption, with the 14-round season likely to be played in full and finish as late as November.

Giants Netball general manager Tim Underwood hopes to still bring a match to Canberra, but those plans could be impacted by border restrictions and whether crowds can attend.

"We'd love to play in Canberra, that certainly would be our intention," Underwood said. "There's a lot of hurdles and hoops we've gotta get through in the coming weeks for the season to get started.

"Border restrictions are a consideration, the challenge would be getting other interstate teams here. But certainly if there's no fans, that potentially changes what we'd look at doing.

"We're hoping we can come down and see our Canberra fans, we are undefeated there.

"The other thing our team loves doing is seeing all the districts and spending time there. I really hope we'll get to do that at some stage as well."

The Giants consider the capital as their second home and are undefeated in their four Super Netball matches in Canberra.

Underwood says the organisation wants to extend their partnership beyond their current agreement, but admits negotiations with the ACT government have not started due to the coronavirus disruption.

"We certainly want to continue coming to Canberra, I think the Giants brand as a whole is quite strong in the ACT," Underwood said.

"We see it as an area where we'd like to continue to grow, the Riverina, because we get a lot of people traveling to Canberra for our games.

"We sold out last year, ticket sales have been fantastic and we also have members in Canberra. Those membership categories are things we want to grow and improve on. Our intention would certainly be to work with the ACT government to get back next year."

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Netball ACT joined forces with the Sunshine Coast Lightning late last year to introduce a joint-venture team into the Australian Netball League.

The partnership could see the two-time Super Netball premiers host matches in Canberra from 2021, if a new agreement with the Giants is not made.

The ANL competition has followed in the footsteps of the Super Netball League commission and has been postponed in wake of the coronavirus crisis.

The National Cabinet are expected to announce more details surrounding the return of community and professional sport this week.

Netball ACT president Louise Bilston Says the organisation has done their scenario planning behind closed doors but is now just waiting for the announcements.

"We're very much looking forward to kicking off our 2020 season, we know we'll be able to get back to training very soon in a refined way," Bilston said.

"The times will be different depending on club netball, academy netball, State League and junior championships. We'll have a different start date for them relative to giving players the right time to get back on court.

"We're confident and excited about the fact we'll be able to get some details into what our season might look like in the next few weeks."