It was announced yesterday the competition is shifting to a conference-style format next year and a Challenge Trophy will be introduced, to be played in a Ranfurly Shield format.
The conference system divides the teams into Australian and New Zealand conferences, with three teams qualifying for the playoffs from each.
After a round of playoff conference games, there will be semifinals between teams from both sides of the Tasman. It is possible for two teams from one country to clash in the final.
There will be seven playoff games, up from four. The regular season remains the same, with 13 games played by each team.
Clarke said the ANZ Championship had been going since 2008 and it was always good for something fresh to be introduced.
''With this new format, the competition will stay alive for a bit longer. Over the length of a season, you could find if you lost a few games at the start, then you are out of the running pretty early on,'' she said.
''It keeps your team in with a chance and is pretty well accepted in a lot of sporting leagues around the world.''
Clarke said the new format was not too confusing and most people could easily get a handle on it.
''I think it is quite easy to understand. Other competitions have quite similar structures and seem to have no problems.''
Other changes are on the way but have not been confirmed.
It is believed if games are tied at the end of regulation time, the match will finish and each team will take a point from the game. Last season, tied games were continued until a winner by two goals was found.
The future of the bonus point for finishing within five goals is also under the spotlight and it may be reviewed or dropped.
The Challenge Trophy should create some home-town support and get fans behind their team. The team with the trophy, which initially will be awarded to a team through a ballot before the season starts, will have to defend it in every home game.
The season starts for the Steel on March 1 and the side will start training on December 1.
Clarke said the idea of playing the competition in summer to avoid the dominant winter codes had been dropped because of the inability to secure stadiums and no real support from fans and administrators.
