The Netball NSW Premier League is a state netball league featuring teams mainly from New South Wales. The league is organised by Netball New South Wales. The Premier League was first played for during the 2016 season. It replaced the Dooleys State League's Waratah Cup as the top level netball competition in New South Wales. On a national level, the Premier League is effectively a third-level league. NNSWPL teams compete in two divisions – the Opens and the Under-23s.
History Earlier state leagues The Premier League replaced the Dooleys State League's Waratah Cup as the top level netball competition in New South Wales. Several of the netball associations that entered teams in the Waratah Cup successfully applied to enter franchises in the Premier League. These included the Eastwood Ryde Netball Association, the Manly Warringah Netball Association and the Sutherland Shire Netball Association who respectively formed ERNA Hawks, Manly Warringah Sapphires and Sutherland Stingrays.
2016 The Netball NSW Premier League was first played for during the 2016 season. The eight founding franchises were Central Coast Heart, ERNA Hawks, GWS Fury, Manly Warringah Sapphires, North Shore United, Panthers, Sutherland Stingrays and UTS St George Sparks. Sutherland Stingrays were crowned the inaugural Opens Champions after an defeating Manly Warringah Sapphires 50–49 in the grand final. Panthers were the inaugural Under-20 premiers.
2017 Manly Warringah Sapphires won the 2017 Opens title after defeating a UTS St George Sparks team featuring Kristina Brice and Beryl Friday, 59–56 in the grand final. A Sparks team featuring Matilda McDonell defeated Panthers 55–49 in the Under-20 grand final.
2018 In 2018, Amy Wild captained Central Coast Heart as they defeated ERNA Hawks 60–55 in the Open's grand final. Wild was also awarded both the Netball NSW President's Medal as the Grand Final MVP and the Nance Kenny OAM Medal as the NNSWPL Player of the Year. In the Under-20 grand final, North Shore United defeated GWS Fury 56–44.
2019 ERNA Hawks won the 2019 Opens title after defeating Central Coast Heart 68–44 in the grand final. The under-20 competition was now changed to an under-23 competition. GWS Fury became the first Under-23 champions after defeating Manly Warringah Sapphires 60–52 in the grand final. After the first four seasons of the NNSWPL, all the original eight franchises have being crowned champions at least once in either the Under-20s, Under-23s or Opens.
2020 The 2020 season saw the addition of two new franchises – The Capital Spirit and South Coast Blaze. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the season took place later in the year. It also featured a new condensed format. In both the Opens and Under-23 divisions, teams were split into two conferences. All teams played the other teams in their conference twice and each team in the other conference once. The top two teams from each conference then contested a two-week finals series. In the Opens division, North Shore United, coached by Rebecca Bulley, were crowned champions after a 56–44 grand final win over ERNA Hawks. In the Under-23 grand final, UTS Randwick Sparks defeated South Coast Blaze 44–32.
2021 With the minor rounds almost complete, the 2021 season was initially suspended and then abandoned after a public health order caused the closure of Netball Central due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2022 Ahead of the 2022 season a new format was announced for both the Opens and Under-23s. There will be 14 regular rounds with all teams playing each other once in the opening nine before they split into conferences for the final five. All teams will play their respective conference opponents once between Rounds 10 and 14. The top three sides from each conference will then progress to the finals series.
Teams Team Home venue/base Home city/town/suburb Debut season Central Coast HeartNiagara Park StadiumCentral Coast2016 ERNA Hawks Eastwood/Ryde2016 GWS Fury Greater Western Sydney2016Manly Warringah Sapphires Northern Beaches2016North Shore United Ku-ring-gai/Northern Sydney2016Panthers Netball Penrith/Hawkesbury/Blue Mountains2016IMB South Coast Blaze South Coast2020South West Mounties MAGIC South Western Sydney2024Sutherland Stingrays Sutherland Shire2016UTS Randwick Sparks University of Technology Sydney2016
Notes UTS Randwick Sparks originally played as UTS St George Sparks. Panthers Netball are affiliated with Penrith Panthers.
Venues Since 2016, Netball Central has been the host venue for the Netball NSW Premier League.
Media coverage Between 2016 and 2020, NNSWPL matches were live streamed across Netball New South Wales's social media channels by BarTV Sports. The lead commentator was ABC Grandstand's Brittany Carter. Her co-commentators included Sonia Mkoloma. Ahead of the 2021 season, CluchTV was announced as the league's new live stream partner. Carter remained the lead commentator.
Division 1 grand finals Dooleys State League - Waratah Cup Season Winners Score Runners up Venue2007Sydney Storm Eastwood/Ryde2008 2009Manly-Warringah Eastwood Ryde2010Manly-Warringah58–45Sutherland ShireAnne Clark Netball Centre2011Manly-Warringah52–45Baulkham HillsAnne Clark Netball Centre2012Sutherland Shire45–43Eastwood RydeAnne Clark Netball Centre2013Eastwood Ryde50–46Sutherland-ShireAnne Clark Netball Centre2014St George Eastwood RydeAnne Clark Netball Centre2015City of Sydney/Sydney University53–40Eastwood RydeNetball Central
Netball NSW Premier League Opens Season Winners Score Runners up Venue2016Sutherland Stingrays50–49Manly-Warringah SapphiresGenea Netball Centre2017Manly-Warringah Sapphires59–56UTS St George SparksGenea Netball Centre 2018Central Coast Heart60–55ERNA HawksGenea Netball Centre2019ERNA Hawks68–44Central Coast HeartNetball Central2020North Shore United56–44ERNA HawksNetball Central2021 2022North Shore United62–51Central Coast HeartNetball Central2023Manly-Warringah Sapphires47–46ERNA HawksNetball Central2024South West Mounties MAGIC59–52North Shore UnitedNetball Central2025Manly-Warringah Sapphires48–44North Shore UnitedNetball Central
Notes The 2021 season was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New South Wales.
Minor premierships Dooleys State League - Waratah Cup Season Winners 2007Sydney Storm2008NSWIS2009Eastwood Ryde2010Manly-Warringah2011Manly-Warringah2012Eastwood Ryde2013Sutherland-Shire2014St George2015City of Sydney/Sydney University
Netball NSW Premier League Opens Season Winners 2016Sutherland Stingrays2017UTS St George Sparks 2018ERNA Hawks2019Central Coast Heart2020 ?2021
Awards Nance Kenny OAM Medal The league's MVP award is named after Nance Kenny OAM.
Season Winner Team2000Shay BarleyNSWIS2001Nerida StewartKuring-gai2002Nerida StewartKuring-gai2003Tanya LundManly Warringah2004 Kelly AdamsonPenrith2004 Megan BertenshawHawkesbury2005Samantha MaySydney Storm2006 Katie WalkerManly-Warringah2006 Applee KennengiesserPenrith2007Joanne Day Eastwood/Ryde2008Landell ArcherFairfield City/Sydney University2009Kelly AdamsonHunter/Central Coast United2010Tiffany LincolnManly-Warringah2011 Kimberly BorgerSt George District2011 Samantha MayBaulkham Hills2012Tiffany LincolnHunter United 2013Leah ShoardSutherland Shire 2014Kaitlyn BryceSt George District 2015Kaitlyn BryceSt George District 2016Kristen KesslerCentral Coast Heart2017 Maddie HaySutherland Stingrays2017 Maddie TaylorCentral Coast Heart2018 Amy WildCentral Coast Heart2019Maddie TaylorCentral Coast Heart2020Lauren WoodsPanthers 2021Toni AndersonSutherland Stingrays 2022 Lili Gorman-BrownSutherland StingraysEliza BurtonNorth Shore United2023Monika ÓtaiUTS Randwick Sparks2024Lauren WoodsNorth Shore United
Notes The medal was shared
Netball NSW President's Medal Grand Final MVP Season Winner Team2012Paula MitchellSutherland Shire 2013Jo DayEastwood Ryde 2016Maddie HaySutherland Stingrays2017Georgia MarshallManly-Warringah Sapphires2018Amy WildCentral Coast Heart2019Georgia MarshallERNA Hawks2020Ash FongNorth Shore United 2022Emily MooreNorth Shore United 2023Jemma DonoghueManly-Warringah Sapphires 2024Gina CramptonSouth West Mounties MAGIC 2025Audrey LittleManly-Warringah Sapphires
Under-23s Grand finals Season Winners Score Runners up Venue2016Panthers63–50UTS St George SparksGenea Netball Centre2017UTS St George Sparks55–49PanthersGenea Netball Centre 2018North Shore United56–44GWS FuryGenea Netball Centre2019GWS Fury60–52Manly Warringah SapphiresNetball Central2020UTS Randwick Sparks44–32South Coast BlazeNetball Central2021 2022Sutherland Stingrays59–43South Coast BlazeNetball Central2023GWS Fury51–44UTS Randwick SparksNetball Central2024UTS Randwick Sparks57–49Sutherland StingraysNetball Central2025GWS Fury57–55PanthersNetball Central
Notes The 2021 competition was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New South Wales. The Under 23s Division ran as an Under 20s competition from 2016 to 2018.
Main sponsors Years Samsung2016–2017Origin Energy2020–
References
External links Netball NSW Premier League on Facebook Netball NSW Premier League on Twitter Netball NSW Premier League on Instagram