2014 ANZ Championship draw

Kia Magic will open the 2014 ANZ Championship season when they meet the Tactix in Christchurch on March 1.

The seventh season of the trans-Tasman competition will start three weeks earlier to ensure the regular season can be completed before the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games with the Grand Final to be contested on June 22-23.

Kia Magic will play seven home games, four in Hamilton, two in Tauranga and one in Rotorua. They will play at home for the first time in round three against Southern Steel, in Hamilton on March 17.

The ANZ Championship will be contested in Canberra for the first time next year when the NSW Swifts host the Steel at the AIS Arena on ANZAC Day.

Canberra, which will host its first ever trans-Tasman international in October, will fittingly play host to the first specifically scheduled ANZAC Day game.

“The ANZ Championship is pleased to be taking the world’s best netball league to Canberra for the first time and how fitting for the national capital to host the ANZAC Day fixture,” ANZ Championship General Manager Andy Crook said.

“Netball is a uniquely female sport so a trans-Tasman fixture on ANZAC Day helps to recognise the significant role of women in the Australian and New Zealand defence forces.”

Kia Magic will make two trips across the Tasman in 2014 when they meet the Melbourne Vixens in Melbourne on March 23 and the Swifts in Sydney on May 25.