Netball New Zealand trialled new innovations, and rules, when the Northern Stars and Northern Mystics men’s teams played against each other at the weekend.
NNZ chief executive Jennie Wyllie signalled those rules could lead to changes to the ANZ Premiership next season.
The two-point shot — which Super Netball, in Australia, introduced in 2020 — was trialled for the entire game, compared to Australia where two-pointers count only in the final five minutes of each quarter.
It sealed the 49-48 victory for the Mystics men, who scored a two-point shot with 3sec to spare to win.
Australia remains the only league to have introduced the two-point shot in domestic netball. It is only used in Fast 5 netball internationally.
Timeouts, which are also used in Australia, were also trialled.
It allows captains to call for a 60sec timeout after a goal is scored.
The only rule not implemented from Australia was rolling substitutions, where players do not have to call time to be substituted.
Captains could also request a review of goals scored on the buzzer to see whether the ball had left a shooter’s hand before the whistle went.
Umpires reviewed television footage to make a final call.
That was not the only change for umpires.
They were also wearing microphones and connected to the venue’s sound system, allowing the crowd to hear the umpires’ calls.
"This is an opportunity to introduce some different rules which could lead to possible changes to our ANZ Premiership in the future," Wyllie said.
There are other big changes ahead for the 2025 season.
After a shorter broadcasting deal was agreed upon, the ANZ Premiership draw has been slashed from three rounds to just two.
Games will remain on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, but NNZ will produce the Saturday games in-house, which will be on free-to-air television.
The rules will continue to be trialled between the men’s teams in the final two games this Saturday and on July 21.
