Trans Tasman Netball ANZ Championship Quiz

Answer: 10

Five teams from Australia (Adelaide Thunderbirds, Melbourne Vixens, NSW Swifts, Queensland Firebirds and West Coast Fever) and five teams from New Zealand (Central Pulse, Mainland Tactix, Northern Mystics, Southern Steel and Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic) competed each year in the championship.

Answer: 14

Teams from the same country played each other twice and teams from the opposing country were only played against once. This meant the five Australian teams played each other twice and they played the New Zealand based teams once and vice versa. Each team also had a bye in the regular season so this amounted to 14 rounds in the regular season (although each team plays only 13 regular season matches).

Answer: NSW Swifts

NSW Swifts beat the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic by 65-56 points. They also played each other in the major semi-final in the first week of the finals series after the Magic and Swifts finished first and second on the ladder after the regular season. This was a much closer game with the Swifts winning 57-56 and earning themselves a place in the Grand Final.

Answer: Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic

Despite playing in the finals every year, the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic could only manage to take the premiership win once. In 2012 they beat the Melbourne Vixens 41-38. They were runners up to the Adelaide Thunderbirds in 2010 after a 52-42 loss. The also won the minor premiership in 2008 after finishing the regular season in first place.

Answer: Central Pulse and Mainland Tactix

Both these teams were from New Zealand. The top four teams at the end of the regular season contested the finals series. The best placing the Tactix achieved under these rules was in the 2009 season when they finished sixth out of the ten teams. The Pulse narrowly missed out on playing finals netball in their best season in 2013 after finishing fifth.

The finals series was altered in 2015 with the top three teams from each country contesting the finals. The Pulse narrowly missed out again in playing finals netball with their highest position on the ladder of fourth and the Tactix finished fifth in both 2015 and 2016.

Answer: 21

The Firebirds winning streak lasted between Round 2 2015 to Round 8 2016. The NSW Swifts finally put an end to their winning streak in Round 9 2016 by beating the Queensland Firebirds 58-54. Prior to that game, the Firebirds' last loss was in Round 1 2015 when they were beaten by the West Coast Fever 57-50.

The Firebirds did have one draw through that winning period - this was against their fiercest rivals, the NSW Swifts, in Round 3 2015 where they played out a 47-47 draw.

Answer: NSW Swifts

It was a huge upset despite the fact that the Swifts themselves were having a horror year only winning two games all season. The Pulse, playing in front of a home crowd, managed to hold off the 2008 premiers for a historic 53-52 victory for their only win of the season. Prior to this game the Pulse were on a 24-game losing streak.

Answer: Sharni Layton, NSW Swifts, 2015

Sharni was a well deserved recipient of this honour. She was clearly the best player on court that day. Her defensive effort was brilliant and she was clearly rattling the Firebirds shooters with her dogged defence.

Answer: Rebecca Bulley

Rebecca won her first premiership with the NSW Swifts in 2008. Her second title came in 2013 whilst playing for the Adelaide Thunderbirds, and her third grand final win was with the Queensland Firebirds in 2015.

Catherine Cox won two titles, firstly with the NSW Swifts in 2008 and again with the Melbourne Vixens in 2014. Natalie Medhurst started her ANZ Championship career at the Adelaide Thunderbirds from 2008-2009 and then moved to the Queensland Firebirds for 2010-2013. She won her only premiership with the Firebirds in 2011. In 2014 she moved to the West Coast Fever where she remained for the rest of the championship. Julie Corletto started her netball journey with the Melbourne Vixens and was a integral part of the team that claimed the 2009 crown. In 2013 she moved across the Tasman and played for the Northern Mystics franchise for the next two seasons. In 2015 she returned home to Australia and played for the NSW Swifts. She was one of the best players on court in the grand final loss to the Queensland Firebirds.

Answer: Queensland Firebirds

This was an epic game. Scores were level at full time at 54-54. After extra time the teams still couldn't be split, so double extra time was needed to determine the champion. Queensland eventually beat NSW 69-67. In achieving this they also became the first and only team to win back-to-back premiership titles.