Netball / Jake Norton / 01 May 2008 / Leave a comment Bet Now

A new era for netball betting was born when the ANZ Championship launched in 2008.

The traditionally fierce trans-Tasman rivalry between Australia and New Zealand's Silver Ferns has been stepped up another level with the introduction of the 10-team league.

Replacing the two domestic competitions - the Commonwealth Bank Trophy and the National Bank Cup - is the new league which features five teams from each country and provides plenty betting interest.

No surprises that the Australian teams were the shorter odds, or indeed that the Sydney Swifts were installed as one of the favourites in the betting before the season.

In New Zealand, only one team - the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic - remained largely intact from the previous domestic competition, with four new franchises being created.

It was a different story this side of the ditch, though, as three of the franchises remained largely the same as they had been in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy days.

One team that looked to be well placed to take advantage of the changes were the New South Wales Swifts. Under their guise as the Sydney Swifts, they had won three of the previous four league titles, and had seen their ranks boosted by merger with the Hunter Jaegers.

Elsewhere, the Melbourne Vixens saw the amalgamation of the former Phoenix and Kestrels teams. The Phoenix had had a particularly proud tradition, having won five titles since the Commonwealth Bank Trophy was formed in 1997.
Another reason to bet on Australian teams was the recent domination they had enjoyed over New Zealand in international matches.

Since the Silver Ferns beat Australia 60-55 in the Commonwealth Games gold medal game in Melbourne in 2006, Norma Plummer's squad had won 10 of the 16 match-ups, including crucially the World Championship final in Auckland last year.

There was little doubt in the netball betting that the Magic were the team to follow as far as New Zealand was concerned.

Led by Silver Ferns shooter Irene van Dyk, the Magic squad also boasts the likes of Joline Henry, Laura Langman, Maria Tutaia and Casey Williams.

The rest of the Silver Ferns talent looked to have been distributed thinly among the other franchises, with none of the current international squad having signed for the Central Pulse.

Interest in the competition was heightened by the media response - all 69 matches in the inaugural league are being televised in Australia adding to the thrill of having a bet.

To the neutral, it seemed that the Australian national team talent had been well dispersed among the franchises. The Swifts were able to boast the likes of shooters Catherine Cox (captain) and Susan Pratley, and wing defence Selina Gilsenan.

The Vixens named goal defence Julie Prendegast and shooter Sharelle McMahon, who had both appeared regularly for the national team, while the Adelaide Thurderbirds had Australian stars Mo'onia Gerrard, Natalie Medhurst and Natalie von Bertouch.

Netball betting is set for an exciting future and Betfair is the place to check out the odds.