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At a time of growing interest in women's sporting competitions, representatives from the eight Super Netball franchises came together at the season launch in Sydney on Wednesday.

The new competition will open on Saturday with a triple-header season opener with NSW Swifts hosting GIANTS Netball, Melbourne Vixens hosting Magpies Netball Club and the Queensland Firebirds hosting Sunshine Coast Lightning.

Beyond the live games - at Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre, Melbourne’s Hisense Arena, and the Brisbane Entertainment Centre respectively – the fixtures will be broadcast over six hours of back-to-back netball coverage live and free on 9Gem, and Telstra TV.

On Sunday, the Adelaide Thunderbirds will host West Coast Fever at Priceline Stadium, Adelaide in Telstra TV’s first exclusive live broadcast of Suncorp Super Netball.

Netball Australia acting Chief Executive Marne Fechner commented “it is such an exciting day for netball, we are nearly there. After close to three years dreaming, evaluating, planning, negotiating and implementing, we’re now only three sleeps away from Suncorp Super Netball coming to life in the biggest venues around this country, and into the homes of everyone.

“We have eight clubs poised for battle, eighty of the world’s best athletes, an amazing new principal partner in Suncorp, and a new broadcast partnership that will take us into the homes, the hands and the hearts of all Australians.”

Fechner reflected on what success will look like for Suncorp Super Netball, explaining that “in time, they will be the first fully professional female athletes in this country, playing in packed stadiums, the largest that our country has to offer; week on week, year on year growth in our broadcast audiences, and more juniors playing the game because they want to be like our captains here today.”

The broadcast deal with Nine and Telstra will see two games per week broadcast live and in prime-time on 9Gem (replayed on Telstra TV), and two games live and exclusive through Telstra TV (replayed on 9Gem). All games will be available live via subscription through the Netball Live app, and replayed on demand via 9Now and Telstra TV.

Images: Captains from the eight Super Netball franchises gather ahead of Suncorp Super Netball season opener this Saturday. Courtesy Ben Symons Photography.

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