The 2018

Suncorp Super Netball Suncorp Super Netball is the top level netball league featuring teams from Australia. In 2017 it replaced the ANZ Championship, which also included teams from New Zealand, as the top level netball league in Australia. Since 2019, the league has ...

season was the second season of the premier

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

league in Australia. The season began on 28 April and concluded with the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

on 26 August 2018. The start of the season was delayed to late April due to the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, ...

, which was held earlier that month on the Gold Coast. The fixtures for the season were released on 11 October 2017.

Sunshine Coast Lightning Sunshine Coast Lightning are an Australian netball team based at the University of the Sunshine Coast. The team was formed in 2016 as a joint venture between the university and Melbourne Storm. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Net ...

were the defending premiers and successfully defended their title, defeating

West Coast Fever West Coast Fever is an Australian netball team based in Perth, Western Australia. Since 2017 they have played in Suncorp Super Netball. Between 2008 and 2016, they competed in the ANZ Championship. Between 1997 and 2007, as Perth Orioles, t ...

in the

Perth Arena Perth Arena (known commercially as ) is an entertainment and sporting arena in the city centre of Perth, Western Australia, used mostly for basketball matches. It is located on Wellington Street near the site of the former Perth Entertainmen ...

Overview

Teams

Format

The season is played over fourteen rounds, allowing every team to play each other twice, once at home and once away. The top four teams on the

ladder A ladder is a vertical or inclined set of rungs or steps used for climbing or descending. There are two types: rigid ladders that are self-supporting or that may be leaned against a vertical surface such as a wall, and rollable ladders, such ...

at the conclusion of the

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability ...

qualify for the finals series. In the first week of the finals series, the 1st ranked team hosts the 2nd ranked team in the major semi-final (with the winner of that match to qualify for the

) and the 3rd ranked team hosts the 4th ranked team in the minor semi-final (with the loser of that match eliminated). The loser of the major semi-final then hosts the winner of the minor semi-final in the preliminary final. The winner of the major semi-final then hosts the winner of the preliminary final in the Grand Final.

Rule changes

Netball Australia Netball Australia is the main governing body for netball in Australia. It is affiliated to World Netball. It is responsible for organising and administrating the Australia national netball team, Suncorp Super Netball and the Australian Na ...

announced a change to the points system for the regular season, with

bonus points In games, score refers to an abstract quantity associated with a player or team. Score is usually measured in the abstract unit of points (except in game shows, where scores often are instead measured in units of currency), and events in the ...

being introduced. Under the new system, teams earn 4 points for a win and 1 point for every quarter won in a match. A drawn match earns a team 2 points and drawing a quarter earns no points. The winning team can earn a maximum of 8 points per match. Additionally, teams can request up to two time-outs per half and at any point in time while play is in progress, any one member of the team bench (players and team officials) listed on the official score sheet shall be permitted to move up and down their team bench within the bench zone to communicate with their on-court or off-court players. Finally,

umpires An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

can now award a penalty pass for delaying play or intimidation and quarter time and half time breaks will be increased by one and three minutes respectively.

Broadcast

The

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television ne ...

televised two matches each round during the regular season and also televised all finals matches.

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX ...

televised the other two matches each round. Every match of the season was available to be streamed live via the Netball Australia App. Unlike 2017, Nine telecast their two matches on the main channel, rather than secondary channel

9Gem 9Gem is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, launched by the Nine Network in September 2010. The channel provides general entertainment and movie programming, from which the original name "GEM" is derived. History Nine N ...

. The two matches broadcast on Nine were on Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

Regular season

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Ladder

Finals series

Major semi-final

Minor semi-final

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Preliminary final

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Grand Final

* Grand Final MVP Winner:

Caitlin Bassett Caitlin Bassett (born 23 May 1988) is a former Australian netballer, who played for Giants Netball and the Australia national netball team. Between 2017 and 2021 Bassett captained Australia in international netball tests. Career Caitlin played ...

* Note: The crowd of 13,722 was an Australian national league record attendance.

Awards

References

External links

*
Season results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suncorp

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

2018 in Australian netball