COLLINGWOOD has informed the netballing world today that it will not be continuing in the Suncorp Super Netball (SSN) competition after the 2023 season.

The club released a statement this afternoon with the news many netball fans had been dreading.

 “Collingwood regrets to inform it has made a decision to withdraw its licence from the Super Netball competition, exiting the sport at the conclusion of the 2023 season following a review focussed on the viability of the Club’s netball program into the future,” the statement began.

Collingwood Chief Executive Officer Craig Kelly also spoke extensively about the process and the ultimate result of the investigation.

“Collingwood is a better place for having had a netball team and the decision to not renew our netball licence has been an incredibly difficult one which has weighed heavily on us,” Kelly said.

 “As a Club, we are tasked with continuing to deliver growth across all areas of Collingwood and ultimately, the review, which analysed key aspects of the Club’s netball program and that of the governing body, determined that the program is not sustainable.

“We acknowledge we could have run a better netball program at Collingwood.

“Throughout this process, we met with Netball Australia and SSN on multiple occasions to explore potential solutions. The challenges Netball Australia has experienced and continues to experience in terms of profitability combined with the current impasse in regard to finalising the TPA and CPA, played a key role in our decision-making.”

“While the timing of an announcement like this is never ideal, or pleasant, it is important to provide our athletes, coaches and staff with clarity so they can plan for the future. We will support athletes and staff on their transition over the coming months.”

 “To be clear, while we are exiting netball, Collingwood remains absolutely committed to growing, investing in and developing women athletes through our AFLW and VFLW programs.”