2008 ANZ Championship season

2008 ANZ Championship season
League	ANZ Championship
Sport	Netball
Duration	5 April 2008 - 28 July 2008
Number of teams	10
TV partner(s)	Fox Sports (Australia)
Champions	New South Wales Swifts
Runners-up	Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic
Minor premiers	Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic
Season MVP	Romelda Aiken (Firebirds) Sonia Mkoloma (Pulse)

The 2008 ANZ Championship season was the inaugural season of the ANZ Championship, a new trans-Tasman netball competition replacing Australia's Commonwealth Bank Trophy and New Zealand's National Bank Cup. The 2008 season began on 5 April, with competing franchises playing each other once, and playing each franchise from their home country a second time. Four teams progressed to the finals stage, played over three weeks. The grand final was played on 28 July at Acer Arena in Sydney, with the New South Wales Swifts emerging victorious over minor premiers the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic. Overall, 6792 goals were scored during the season, averaging 98.44 per match.

Teams

The inaugural season featured five teams from both Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, one team represented each participating state. In New Zealand, each team represented one or more regions.

Team	Representative area	Former team(s)
New South Wales Swifts	New South Wales	Sydney Swifts, Hunter Jaegers
Melbourne Vixens	Melbourne	Melbourne Phoenix, Melbourne Kestrels
Queensland Firebirds	Queensland	Queensland Firebirds
West Coast Fever	Western Australia	Perth Orioles
Adelaide Thunderbirds	South Australia	Adelaide Thunderbirds
Northern Mystics	Northland, Auckland	Auckland Diamonds, Northern Force
Central Pulse	Central North, Wellington, Tasman	Wellington Shakers, Western Flyers
Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic	Waikato, Bay of Plenty	Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic
Canterbury Tactix	Canterbury	Canterbury Flames
Southern Steel	Southland, Otago	Southern Sting, Otago Rebels

The Central Pulse, Northern Mystics, Southern Steel, Melbourne Vixens and NSW Swifts were formed as amalgamations of previous teams in their respective national competitions. The West Coast Fever were the renamed Perth Orioles and the Tactix were the renamed Canterbury Flames. The Firebirds, Thunderbirds and Magic retained their names from the national competitions.

Franchise map

Fever

Thunderbirds

Vixens

Magic

Mystics

Swifts

Firebirds

Pulse

Tactix

Steel

Transfer Season

See the 2008 Transfer Season

Competition ladder

2008 ANZ Championship season
	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	G%	Pts
1	Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic	13	10	0	3	687	599	114.69	20
2	New South Wales Swifts	13	10	0	3	727	652	111.50	20
3	Adelaide Thunderbirds	13	9	0	4	652	577	113.00	18
4	Melbourne Vixens	13	9	0	4	673	620	108.55	18
5	Queensland Firebirds	13	7	0	6	693	645	107.44	14
6	Southern Steel	13	7	0	6	617	616	100.16	14
7	Northern Mystics	13	5	0	8	625	637	98.12	10
8	Canterbury Tactix	13	5	0	8	607	678	89.53	10
9	West Coast Fever	13	2	1	10	605	697	86.80	5
10	Central Pulse	13	0	1	12	471	636	74.06	1
Updated: 2008-11-22

• Pld = Games played
• W = Win (2 points)
• D = Draw (1 point)^[1]
• L = Loss (0 points)
• GF = Goals For (Total goals scored)
• GA = Goals Against (Total goals conceded)
• G% = Goal percentage (= 100 × GF/GA)
• Pts = Progressive points tally

Round-robin games

All listed times are local.

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

Finals

The top four teams from the round-robin stages qualified for the finals series, played over a three-week period. These teams were (in descending order) the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic (minor premiers), New South Wales Swifts, Adelaide Thunderbirds and Melbourne Vixens.

Major semi-final

Sunday 13 July 17:30 (UTC+12)	Report Stats	Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic	56–57	New South Wales Swifts		Mystery Creek Events Centre, Hamilton Umpires: Jacqui Jashari (AUS) Bronwyn Meek (NZL) Reserve umpire: Mandy Nottingham (NZL)	FOXSports SKYSport
		Scoring by quarter: 15-16, 17-14, 9-17, 15-10
		van Dyk  29/29 (100%) Tutaia  27/34 (79%)		Cox  41/48 (85%) Pratley  16/19 (84%)

Minor semi-final

Monday 14 July 16:30 (UTC+9:30)	Report Stats	Adelaide Thunderbirds	53–48	Melbourne Vixens		ETSA Park, Adelaide Umpires: Rachael Ayre (AUS) Bobbi Brown (NZL) Reserve umpire: Helen George (AUS)	FOXSports SKYSport
		Scoring by quarter: 8-16, 16-8, 12-14, 17-10
		Beveridge  38/44 (86%) Medhurst  15/20 (75%)		Thwaites  28/37 (76%) McMahon  20/21 (95%)

Preliminary final

Monday 21 July 19:00 (UTC+12)	Report Stats	Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic	51–49	Adelaide Thunderbirds		Mystery Creek Events Centre, Hamilton Umpires: Sharon Kelly (AUS) Bronwyn Meek (NZL) Reserve umpire: Bobbi Brown(NZL)	FOXSports SKYSport
		Scoring by quarter: 17-14, 12-11, 12-11, 10-13
		van Dyk  31/32 (97%) Tutaia  20/23 (87%)		Beveridge  29/34 (85%) Medhurst  20/22 (91%)

Grand final

Monday 28 July 19:00 (UTC+10)	Report Stats	New South Wales Swifts	65–56	Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic		Acer Arena, Sydney Attendance: 12,999 Umpires: Sharon Kelly (AUS) Bronwyn Meek (NZL) Reserve umpire: Jacqui Jashari (AUS)	FOXSports SKYSport
		Scoring by quarter: 19-14, 15-14, 16-17, 15-11
		Cox  41/46 (89%) Pratley  24/30 (80%)		van Dyk  45/46 (98%) Tutaia  11/15 (73%)

Notes

References

• ANZ Championship rules (as of 2008)