'I'm going to cry': Mystics captain in tears after Netball NZ announce new private league

Northern Mystics captain Michaela Sokolich-Beatson broke down in tears at the announcement New Zealand will have a professional domestic netball competition next year.

Netball New Zealand (NNZ) have signed a non-binding term sheet with rich-listers Anna Mowbray and Ali Williams for a private league starting next year.

The parties have agreed to a minimum of five teams in the new competition, meaning one of the six current franchises – the Mystics, Stars, Magic, Pulse, Tactix and Steel – could be culled.

Auckland FC investors Mowbray and Williams will determine the competition format, the team structure and the season dates.

The long-form agreement would see the licence for the competition and competing teams held by the investors, with NNZ assuming a governance role on a new board tasked with controlling the new league.

Player terms would be determined through collective bargaining with the New Zealand Netball Players’ Association (NZNPA).

Broadcast arrangements for the elite domestic competition from 2027 would sit with the investors with support from NNZ.

The news follows months of uncertainty for players, coaches and staff, with 18 Kiwi players taking offshore contracts in Australia and the UK, including 10 of the 12 Silver Ferns Commonwealth Games winners.

Sokolich-Beatson and fellow former Silver Fern Phoenix Karaka were involved in the discussions through the Players Association.

Sokolich-Beatson got emotional when asked how she feels about the announcement.

“I am a strong advocate because I love this sport. I’m going to cry. Phoenix [Karaka] will be disappointed in me. It’s emotional because I love this sport. I’ve made my best friends in this sport. I’ve met some incredible people and the fact that fellow little girls and boys across our country have a pathway to play in, like that’s really cool.”

The veteran Mystics defender said her emotion is about future generations.

“I’ve had 11 years playing. If it was to end here, I’ve had a great career; it’s not actually about me. It’s about my friends that have little girls who play netball on a Tuesday night at Edith Hopper, like the small tiny little netball centre, and they love it.

“They look up to me, and they want to be a netballer like I’ve got to do. It’s about them, and I even think the girls in my team who have played one year, like they’re incredible players and they deserve to have a career.”

When asked about potentially only having five teams in next year’s competition, Sokolich-Beatson pointed to the limited timeframe.

“I think something’s better than nothing, and that doesn’t mean to say that it will stay, and it’s still only a minimum of five, which I think is really good. That doesn’t mean to say it can’t be more. But I think with the really short runway, something’s better than nothing.”

NNZ chief executive Jennah Wootten said the number of teams was one of a range of minimum standards on the non-binding term sheet.

“Five was the number that we collectively felt was appropriate. It was a number that was reached in collaboration with the Players Association and the zones, and it was a number that both Anna and Ali felt was achievable.”

NZNPA general manager Pippa Moore was optimistic six domestic teams could eventually return.

“It’s just the minimum for next year because we know that we don’t have a whole heap of time. I think the ambition is for six.”

New Zealand Netball Players' Association General Manager Pippa Moore and Netball New Zealand Chief Executive Jennah Wootten at the announcement on the future of New Zealand’s elite domestic netball competition. Photo / Dean Purcell

Sokolich-Beatson admitted New Zealand might not genuinely have the depth to support six teams.

“If I’m like really honest, it might be a little bit tough for the first year, but that’s not to say we won’t get players back, and that’s also not to say that there’s not some amazing girls playing in UNISS [Upper North Island Secondary Schools netball tournament] and Lowers and Souths currently.

“If I think about my age group, we all got scouted at UNISS and things like that, and we were straight first year out of high school into ANZ teams. So that’s not to say that there’s not this massive cohort of young girls playing right now that are ready to step into our teams.”

ANZ Premiership players have taken repeated pay cuts over the last few years, and Moore said they are yet to determine how player salaries will be impacted by privatisation.

“We have had conversations with Ali and Anna about that, but we haven’t got the detail. We will figure that out over the next three weeks.”

While there is no confirmed timeframe for when the details of next year’s league will be established, NNZ chief executive Jennah Wootten said they would work as fast as possible.

“The sooner we can reach a long-form agreement, the sooner everyone’s minds can focus on doing what needs to be done to actually stand up the competition for 27. So we haven’t put a specific timeline out there at this point, but we will be working with pace, and that work has already commenced.”

Oceane Maihi of the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic (from left), Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray, and Michaela Sokolich-Beatson. Photos / Photosport

The news about the competition’s future comes the same morning as the Mystics confirmed the departure of assistant coach Rob Wright, who joins the Queensland Firebirds alongside head coach Kiri Wills.

Wright helped steer the Mystics to five ANZ Premiership grand finals in six years, winning four titles.

Sokolich-Beatson said it was a massive loss.

“He is one of the coolest guys I’ve ever met and I’ve never been coached by someone like him. The way he can coach with his skills and his analytical brain, he is incredible. So it’s a massive loss for our team.

“Me and him have a really close relationship. He was just asking me a couple of times where everything’s at because he’s in the same position as the players; this is his job. All our management, it’s their job. They love netball just as much as we do, and he’s too good a coach to not be coaching.

“He has to do what’s right for him, and I back him 100%. I’m just proud of him for putting himself in a position where he can keep coaching.”

Sokolich-Beatson said it was an honour to be involved in the decision-making process around the future of the league.

“If I’m honest, a lot of it went straight over my head because they speak in words I don’t really understand. I’m just a netballer at the end of the day who was trying to be there as a representation.

“I kind of just would walk back to the car and Pippa [Moore] and Steph [Bond] would tell me in more layman’s terms, and I’d be like, ‘Oh yeah, okay.’

“The Silver Ferns went to Glasgow, so none of those girls had the opportunity to because they had a gold medal to go and win for us. To be with Phoenix and the Players Association in those meetings gave me a massive appreciation for the work that everybody had to do and the battle that I guess everybody collectively had to climb to get here.

“There were so many decisions that had to be made, and so many things that had to be weighed up. I wasn’t privy to all of those things, but I could see the sheer effort that collectively everyone was putting in.”

Sokolich-Beatson is yet to meet Mowbray or Williams, but said she was excited by what she read from Mowbray in the press release.

“I would really like to meet her and to hear her vision from her, and what she sees this competition being and how they expect it to look and feel. From her perspective, I think it’s going to look and feel really cool.”

Nathan Limm has been a journalist with Newstalk ZB and the NZ Herald since 2020. He covered the Netball World Cup in Cape Town in 2023, hosts The Big League Podcast and commentates rugby and netball for Gold Sport.