WITH the home and away season wrapping up, the Suncorp Super Netball finals dates have been released with teams set to enjoy longer breaks between the matches instead of being subjected to the condensed season.

The entire finals series will be played in Queensland with no games set to be played in Western Australia or South Australia despite the latter playing host to a couple of games in the backend of the season. The matches will be spread across both USC Stadium, home of the Lightning and Nissan Arena, located in Brisbane. Finals will be played over three weeks as USC Stadium welcomes the semi-finals weekend with the major semi-final taking place on Saturday 3 October and the minor semi to be played the following day at 1pm.

The team that losses the major semi-final then has the choice to decide which venue they want to play the following final at whether it be USC or the Brisbane-based arena. In what has been an unconventional Suncorp Super Netball season, teams that finish one and two respectively will be asked to nominate the location to play their preliminary final clash immediately after Round 14 to allow for scheduling.

The preliminary final will take place on Sunday 11 October at the chosen venue either USC Stadium or Nissan Arena by the losing team of the major semi-final. However teams will not have a choice when it comes to the grand final as Nissan Arena has been locked in to host the big dance which is set to take place on Sunday 18 October at 1pm.

It will be familiar territory for all teams given the entire season has been played up in the Sunshine State given the COVID-19 outbreak and restrictions that followed. Working in conjunction with the Queensland government and abiding by the appropriate COVID safe requirements there is hope that a crowd of 2000 people will be able to flock to the grand final to cap off what has been an action packed season.

After a heavily condensed season with 14 rounds played in just over two months the finals have been space out to allow enough time for recovery something Super Netball CEO Chris Symington took into consideration when scheduling the finals.

“We have taken guidance from our clubs in spacing the finals matches over three weeks after the condensed home and away season to ensure all teams involved in finals have adequate time to recover and prepare,” he said to Suncorp Super Netball.

The Melbourne Vixens have already secured the minor premiership while Sunshine Coast Lightning, West Coast Fever and NSW Swifts currently hold a top four position as the GIANTS fight to keep their finals hopes alive making for an intriguing end to the season.