Mickey Mouse and friends freeze Super Netball finals out of prime venue

In the penultimate round of the Super Netball season, the top four were locked in.

The Adelaide Thunderbirds' success at Ken Rosewall Arena on Saturday, 66-60, saw them secure the minor premiership and knock the NSW Swifts out of finals contention.

We now know the Thunderbirds will host the major semifinal on Sunday June 21, but they've been shut out of their home venue for the important game.

The Queensland Firebirds also put a line through the Sunshine Coast Lightning's chances on Saturday with a 66-59 victory in Brisbane as they clinched the Queensland Cup.

The Mavericks beat the Vixens for the very first time in the Melbourne Derby on Sunday, 59-50. It's taken them three years to outplay their cross-town rivals and claim a finals spot.

Not only did they win but they improved their for and against goal percentage to leapfrog into third position and put themselves in the hot seat to host the minor semifinal.

They very well could be the most dangerous team moving forward but a comment from their coach about the umpiring has slightly rocked the boat.

The last game of the round saw the Giants get pipped by the West Coast Fever in Sydney, 61-60. It's not often you see Player of the Match awarded to someone from the losing side but Aussie Diamonds goal attack Sophie Dwyer had her best game in a long time, nailing 19 goals and three super shots at 92 per cent.

If you missed it, don't worry — we'll get you up to speed with our Super Netball round-up.

Super Netball misses out on big-time finals venues

Does netball need to rethink its planning for finals venues?

Many fans are sure to miss out on finals tickets because the largest indoor venues in the southern states are unavailable.

Disney on Ice will take place at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre across the semifinals weekend from June 19–June 21 before the tour heads to Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on the grand final weekend from July 2–July 6.

Rod Laver Arena holds the record for the best Super Netball crowd after the 2025 grand final. ( Getty Images: Graham Denholm )

This means the Thunderbirds have been shut out of their regular stadium and will instead need to play the major semifinal at the Adelaide 36ers Arena, housing roughly 2,000 fewer people.

It also shuts down the opportunity to repeat the success of last year's record grand final crowd of 15,013. The deciding match will be held at John Cain Arena with about 5,000 fewer seats.

Demonstrating how much of a hot commodity these tickets will be is the fact that the Vixens are already at full capacity here week-to-week during the regular season.

During the home and away fixtures, hosting responsibilities lie with the clubs. During finals, these fall to Netball Australia. It would be easy to point the finger at the organisation and ask why it didn't tentatively book the bigger venues earlier.

Especially considering the increasing interest in the league. Last year's regular season hit an all-time high of 343,634 total fans, making it the most attended campaign in history across the Commonwealth Bank Trophy, ANZ Championship and Super Netball eras.

This year's grand final will be held with a smaller capacity at John Cain Arena. ( Getty: Graham Denholm )

But the ongoing nature of Disney on Ice contracts means the company locks in its locations a year in advance, long before fixtures are released.

In 2022, Netball Australia announced from now on that it would be selling off the grand final to the highest bidder . Bought by the West Australian government, it was staged at Perth Arena.

Although the abandonment of the tradition of allowing the highest-ranked team left standing the right to host did not go down well, there have been commercial benefits.

Netball can chase investment for its showpiece event and can also organise related events around the match to generate further revenue, like the grand final lunch.

We all came to terms with that plan, and then it got a little more complicated.

In late 2022, the Hancock Prospecting saga left the Aussie Diamonds chasing sponsorship. Visit Victoria stepped in to match the $15 million dollars withdrawn by Gina Rinehart's company .

As part of the five-year deal, it's thought that the Victorian government was granted first dibs in the bidding process and so, three of the past four grand finals have been in Melbourne.

Except for 2024, which was bought by the South Australian government as the next best thing it could do for the Thunderbirds after failing to pinch the 2023 decider in an 11th-hour bid.

The question now is what process does the sport commit to moving forward? What is best practice? Put simply — how do we ensure the bigger venues are available for the biggest game on the calendar?

Now feels like the perfect time to reflect on this with so much change afoot, as we close in on the end of 10 seasons and look to a new TV deal on the Nine Network .

Thunderbirds, Vixens, Mavericks and Fever are the last four teams left vying for the Super Netball trophy. ( Get…