Netball: More Australian players than ever sign with NZ teams

Analysis - A number of Australian players, who have been squeezed out of their own domestic league, will play in next year's ANZ Premiership, which could add much-needed intrigue.

The six ANZ Premiership teams have confirmed their 10-player rosters for next year's competition and they include more Australian players than ever before.

The New Zealand premiership has a limit of one import player per team in contrast to the Suncorp Super Netball (SSN) league across the Tasman, which has unlimited imports.

But more Australian raised players with New Zealand connections are coming out of the woodwork so ANZ Premiership franchises don't have to count them as imports.

The biggest coup by far is Australian Diamonds shooter Donnell Wallam, who has signed with the Mystics.

The defending champions had a gaping hole to fill after the departure of Silver Fern Grace Nweke, who will play across the Tasman next year. Nweke won't be eligible to play for the Ferns next year, while import Wallam will still be able to represent Australia.

Wallam was second in the SSN for total goals in 2023 and 2024, second only behind the most prolific shooter in the world - Jamaican Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard.

It came as a shock to fans in Australia when the Queensland Firebirds let go of the 30-year-old after three seasons, instead signing 2.01m shooter Mary Chulhock of Uganda. It underlines how incredibly difficult it is for Australian players to break into the competition, with franchises able to lure some of the best players from around the world.

If you happen to be a goal shoot it's exponentially harder. Out of the eight Super Netball teams in Australia - just two of them have Australian players rostered as their starting goal shoots for 2025.

The New Zealand league has been criticised for becoming too isolated and not having the high quality imports it needs to push local players.

Import players can also just bring a whole new level of interest and flavour to the competition and Wallam is likely to do that.

Whether it's been through a lack of ambition from franchises to go after high profile overseas players or difficultly in attracting them, it has meant the league hasn't had a marquee player for some time.

But New Zealand Netball Player's Association executive manager Steph Bond said while import players automatically started on a lower retainer than local players, they can still be paid well.

"There's flexibility in the model and ways and means of how you structure a contract. A team has got the ability to spend up to $100,000 on what we call non-playing agreements so if they wanted to get an import they could top her up to tier one (the highest tier) and put her on a non-playing agreement. So an import could effectively be earning over $80,000 to play here," Bond said.

The Stars, under new coach Temepara Bailey have recruited two players from Queensland, where the former Silver Fern has been coaching for the past three years.

After two seasons with the Queensland Firebirds defender Remi Kamo was also not offered a contract. She was a nominee for Rookie of the Year at the 2023 Australian Netball Awards.

Brisbane-born Kamo is eligible to represent New Zealand, with her dad, being born in the Chatham Islands, with Ngāti Mutunga his iwi.

Australian import shooter Charlie Bell will also join the Stars after three seasons with the Sunshine Coast Lightning as a training partner and replacement player, where she got very little court time.

At 196 centimetres, Bell will be one of the tallest players in the competition next year.

The poster child for an Australian raised player finding success in New Zealand is current Silver Ferns captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio.

Ekenasio grew up in Queensland but battled for court time across four seasons at the Firebirds. Having a Kiwi connection through her father, Ekenasio decided to try New Zealand and signed with the Pulse in 2015 before later becoming an established Silver Fern.

Last month Ekenasio's Magic team-mate Claire O'Brien got a Silver Ferns call-up after struggling for years to get regular court time. The born and bred Australian is eligible to play for New Zealand because her parents are Kiwis.

O'Brien was a member of Australia's 2017 Youth World Cup team and made her SSN debut for the Swifts that same year, but nailing down a starting position in the league proved difficult. In 2020, she joined the Sydney-based Giants as a training partner, but did not see much court time.

So O'Brien looked across the Tasman and joined the Mystics as a training partner in 2021. The change eventually culminated with a move to the Magic this year where she finally earned a starting bib at the age of 27.

The Tactix have signed two Australian players - Charli Fidler and Martina Salmon, who was the break-out player of 2024 when she initially filled in as an injury replacement for the Pulse.

Born in Auckland, Salmon moved to Australia as a child and was recently named in the Silver Ferns development squad.

Salmon came through the Australian system and was a training partner with the Sunshine Coast Lightning in the SSN and first ventured to New Zealand in 2022.

After being with the Giants as a training partner, Australian import Fidler will be hoping to get a decent amount of court time in New Zealand.

The 21-year-old defender, who represented the Australian U19 team, said she was excited to work with the experienced Tactix defensive end.

Defender Dakota Thomas, 23, has been honing her skills in Australia but has links to New Zealand through her Māori father, and will join the Southern Steel next year.

Thomas spent the past three years as a training partner with the New South Wales Swifts, which she said had enabled her to grow as a player in a very intense but professional environment.

"All I have ever wanted is to be a professional athlete and I wanted to branch out and have new experiences of my own in New Zealand. The ANZ Premiership is the next best competition in the world so I am thrilled to be involved in something with such an elite status," Thomas said.

Not every Australian player who crosses the ditch gets a fairytale finish.

The last high profile Australian to sign to a New Zealand club was former Australian goal shooter Caitlin Bassett. The Diamonds captain at the time was forced to find a club outside of Australia because she wasn't getting enough court time.

She spent a year at the Magic in 2021 but knee issues meant she could not find her best form and she retired soon after.

Rahni Samason came to the Stars this year from the Melbourne Vixens with huge promise and links through her father meant she was eligible for the Silver Ferns. But she barely saw the court and has not been signed on by any franchise next year.

Two New Zealand players will compete in the Australian league next year with Nweke signed with the Swifts and former Ferns captain Gina Crampton recruited by the Giants.

Former Silver Fern Sam Winders spent a season with the Giants this year but has not signed on again.