Will the controversial super shot be introduced to international netball?

Source : ABC NEWS

From controversial beginnings to global domination, the two-point shot has now infiltrated all four top netball leagues around the world. 

In 2020, there was uproar when Australia became the first country to boldly introduce the innovation inspired by netball’s shorter and flashier format — Fast 5.

League organisers dropped the bombshell six weeks before the season started.

Clubs had already recruited players, teams were in the depths of pre-season, and they were blindsided by the scoring adaptation that would shake up the game.

The timing was interesting considering the competition that year had already been delayed because of the COVID pandemic, everyone had to move to Queensland in a hub, and there were other new rules already being added like timeouts, rolling subs and extra time.

It felt like too much all at once. Australian Netball Players’ Association president Jo Weston worried a two-point shot would alienate existing fans, delivering the iconic line: “There are only so many bells and whistles you can add to a bike before it becomes a clown car.”

She wasn’t alone. There was angst across all eight clubs. Some thought the adaptions made netball too much like basketball. The players — who consider themselves to be key stakeholders of the game — felt they should have at least had a say.

Those in charge argued it was just a trial to see if it would entice new fans.

Whether it was successful is hard to say, because the league has never divulged any key metrics that would demonstrate its success or revealed whether the “trial” met its targets. The new rule simply rolled on with the rest of the innovations and here we are five years on.

Now it seems there’s no going back. Especially since other countries have also jumped on board.

Changing attitudes overseas

Originally, they mocked us overseas and yet, in 2025, the UK Super League, the New Zealand Premiership and the South African Netball League have all introduced a two-point shot for fear of falling behind.

“I think they’ve ruined Super Netball by introducing it,” former Silver Fern Storm Purvis told SEN New Zealand in April 2020.

“I’m trying so hard not to laugh because I genuinely find this quite hysterical, you’re sabotaging your national team,” former England Rose Sara Francis-Bayman told the Netball Nation podcast two months later.

This is not a knock on either expert, because hindsight is 20/20. More so just an interesting reflection of the changing attitudes towards the scoring adaption.

Commercially, it helps that money talks and each league has managed to secure extra sponsorship for the naming rights of its two-point goal.

The world number one ranked Aussie Diamonds team has also been able to claim back their Commonwealth Games gold medal and Netball World Cup crown since 2020, indicating it’s possible to make rule changes at a domestic level and not let it impact you internationally.

The UK Super League has replicated the exact same timing and distance as Super Netball. In the last five minutes of each quarter, two points are on offer in the designated arc painted 3 metres away from the goal post.

The New Zealand Premiership runs on the same timing. However, in order to make it a tougher challenge, they’ve pushed their arc back to the Fast 5 distance — 3.5 metres away.

South Africa has been the first to really stretch the concept. The winner of the coin toss that determines which team takes the first centre pass also now gets to decide whether double points will be on offer for the last two minutes of the first or third quarter. ABC Sport was unable to confirm the distance of their arc; visually it appears to be 3.5 metres away.

So, given it is so widespread, will World Netball add a super shot to its international game?

Diamonds midcourter and Melbourne Vixens captain Kate Moloney’s stance may have softened over the past five Super Netball seasons, but she is still reluctant to see it in Test matches.

“It’s interesting how it’s been adopted in other leagues, and it does show we’re doing something right here in Australia if they want to copy that,” Moloney told ABC Sport.

“I love international netball the way it is and hopefully it stays that way, but the super shot has added something exciting domestically and my opinion has changed on it because I can see the excitement from a fan point of view.”

What would be the challenges?

Retired umpire Michelle Phippard’s experience at the highest level spanned two decades.

Asked whether the super shot could feasibly be introduced to international netball, Phippard reflected on the privilege associated with such a question.

There are 75 members governed by World Netball with varying degrees of facilities and funding.

“There’s one rule book and that applies to the game at all levels, so there would be huge logistical issues … you would have to go through and remark every netball court,” Phippard said.

“The costs involved in getting all the courts repainted would be enormous. Who pays for that?

“When I lived in Switzerland or in the US for instance, at training each week we’d have to mark out all the lines on basketball courts with pieces of string.

“We take for granted our venues here with gazillions of courts and would probably have less issues getting them remarked, but in other countries, there’s no way.

“That would be one big barrier to it internationally and if the game did want to introduce it, it would probably need to consider separating the rules at the top from community.”

This is a great point, because if the game decided to go ahead without separating its rule books, further repercussions would be felt at your local courts.

There would be an added layer of complexity around central timing for associations and when it comes to umpires indicating correctly a ‘one’ or a ‘two’, a recent UK Super League example showed even the professionals have struggled to get the hand signals right.

We also need to consider whether it would be fair for other nations that don’t get the opportunity to practice this kind of innovation back home.

“We underestimate how hard it is for some countries to adapt,” Phippard said.

“Even with Fast 5 Netball, at the beginning of the week there are so many practice matches that take place, so the players, umpires and coaches have time to learn the rules.

“In Australia and New Zealand, they would just run a camp leading in, but in Uganda, Malawi or Jamaica, they would have to learn as they go along.

“It’s more than just the long shot itself, it’s learning the defensive strategies to counter it and across those top four professional leagues you’re lucky if there’s maybe six countries represented.

“At a World Cup there’s 16 countries, and some will have no exposure at all, so they will be really disadvantaged and that could widen the gap.”

Is World Netball open to the idea?

When ABC Sport reached out to World Netball to get some clarity about their plans moving forward, we received this tight-lipped response. 

“The World Netball Rules Advisory Panel is responsible for recommending rules changes to the World Netball Board,” its statement read.

“During an official rules review, World Netball welcomes member associations and World Netball Technical Panels to submit proposals for changes to the rules of netball, which allows the Rules Advisory Panel to then begin a consultation and trialling process, before presenting suggested rules changes for World Netball members to vote on.

“For the 2025 domestic season World Netball has been consulted and notes that England Netball, Netball Australia, Netball New Zealand and Netball South Africa have introduced various rules variations to their elite domestic leagues, including the super shot.

“World Netball is in communication with all four members and is working to gather data in relation to the implementation of various rules variations within their leagues.

“This type of information is invaluable to inform future strategic directions, and to assist with rule reviews, policy, and procedure development.”

The governing body is certainly open to changes. The last ones it made were voted on at the 2023 Netball World Cup and implemented at the start of 2024.

Some of these included modifications to the short pass rule and substitutions to resemble something closer to rolling subs. There was also a crackdown on dangerous play, that has increased two-minute suspensions and send-offs.

But would the typically conservative World Netball be bold enough to incorporate a super shot? That’s another question. Watch this space.