Commonwealth Bank Trophy

The Commonwealth Bank Trophy, also referred to as the National Netball League, was the top level national Australian netball league between 1997 and 2007. The league was organized by Netball Australia. Its main sponsor was the Commonwealth Bank. Melbourne Phoenix were the competition's most successful team, winning five premierships. Sydney Swifts were the second most successful team, winning four premierships. Between them, Phoenix and Swifts played in every grand final, except in 1999 when Adelaide Thunderbirds won the second of their two premierships. Ahead of the 2008 season, the Commonwealth Bank Trophy league effectively merged with New Zealand's National Bank Cup to form the ANZ Championship.

Commonwealth Bank Trophy

Founded	1997
Ceased	2007
Replaced by	ANZ Championship
No. of teams	8
Country	Australia
Last champion(s)	Sydney Swifts (4th title)
Most titles	Melbourne Phoenix (5 titles)
Sponsor(s)	Commonwealth Bank

Teams

Locations of teams

The founding members of the Commonwealth Bank Trophy league included Adelaide Ravens, Adelaide Thunderbirds, Melbourne Kestrels, Melbourne Phoenix, Perth Orioles, Sydney Sandpipers, Sydney Swifts and Queensland Firebirds. The majority of the teams were named after native Australian birds including ravens, kestrels, orioles and sandpipers. Adelaide Thunderbirds were initially going to be named Adelaide Falcons but the name was changed at the request of the rugby union team.^[1] In 2003 Ravens were replaced by AIS Canberra Darters^[2][3] and in 2004 Sandpipers were replaced by Hunter Jaegers.^[4][5][6][7]

In 2008, when the Commonwealth Bank Trophy league was replaced by the ANZ Championship, Thunderbirds and Firebirds became founders of the new league.^[8] Several other Commonwealth Bank Trophy teams were transformed to form ANZ Championship teams. Swifts and Jaegers merged to become New South Wales Swifts,^[9] Kestrels and Phoenix merged to become Melbourne Vixens^[10] and Orioles were rebranded as West Coast Fever.^[11][12] Meanwhile, the Australian Institute of Sport and Canberra Darters ended their partnership and in 2008 entered two separate team in the Australian Netball League.^[13][14]

2007 teams

Team	Home venue/base	State/Territory
Adelaide Thunderbirds	Netball SA Stadium	South Australia
AIS Canberra Darters	AIS Arena	Australian Capital Territory
Hunter Jaegers	Newcastle Entertainment Centre	New South Wales
Melbourne Phoenix	Parkville Stadium	Victoria
Melbourne Kestrels	Parkville Stadium Waverley Netball Centre	Victoria
Perth Orioles	Challenge Stadium	Western Australia
Queensland Firebirds	Chandler Arena	Queensland
Sydney Swifts	Sydney SuperDome State Sports Centre Wollongong Entertainment Centre	New South Wales

Earlier teams

Team	Region	Debut season	Final season	Replaced by
Adelaide Ravens	South Australia	1997	2002	AIS Canberra Darters
Sydney Sandpipers	New South Wales	1997	2003	Hunter Jaegers

Grand finals

Season	Winners	Score	Runners Up	Venue
1997[15]	Melbourne Phoenix	58–48	Adelaide Thunderbirds	The Glasshouse
1998[15][16]	Adelaide Thunderbirds	48–42	Sydney Swifts	Netball SA Stadium
1999[16][17][18]	Adelaide Thunderbirds	62–30	Adelaide Ravens	Netball SA Stadium
2000[17][19]	Melbourne Phoenix	52–51	Adelaide Thunderbirds	The Glasshouse
2001[20][5][21]	Sydney Swifts	57–32	Adelaide Thunderbirds	State Sports Centre
2002[20][22][23]	Melbourne Phoenix	49–44	Adelaide Thunderbirds	John Cain Arena
2003[23][24]	Melbourne Phoenix	47–44	Sydney Swifts	Sydney SuperDome
2004[25][26][27]	Sydney Swifts	52–51	Melbourne Phoenix	Sydney SuperDome
2005[27][28][29][21]	Melbourne Phoenix	61–44	Sydney Swifts	John Cain Arena
2006[5][30][31]	Sydney Swifts	65–36	Adelaide Thunderbirds	State Sports Centre
2007[5][30][32][33][34]	Sydney Swifts	45–37	Melbourne Phoenix	Sydney SuperDome

Minor premierships

Season	Winners
1997	Adelaide Thunderbirds[15]
1998	Adelaide Thunderbirds[15]
1999	Adelaide Thunderbirds[17]
2000	Adelaide Thunderbirds[17]
2001	Adelaide Thunderbirds[20]
2002	Melbourne Phoenix[20]
2003	Melbourne Phoenix[23]
2004	Sydney Swifts[23]
2005	Sydney Swifts[27]
2006	Sydney Swifts[27]
2007	Melbourne Phoenix[30]

Awards

Most Valuable Player

Season	Player	Team
1998 [5]	Liz Ellis	Sydney Swifts
1999 [18]	Jacqui Delaney	Adelaide Thunderbirds
2000 [19]	Sharelle McMahon	Melbourne Phoenix
2001 [18]	Jacqui Delaney	Adelaide Thunderbirds
2002 [5]	Liz Ellis	Sydney Swifts
2003	Sharelle McMahon	Melbourne Phoenix
2004 [26]	Cynna Neele	Melbourne Kestrels
2005 [29]	Sharelle McMahon	Melbourne Phoenix
2006 [5][31]	Liz Ellis	Sydney Swifts
2007 [32]	Sharelle McMahon	Melbourne Phoenix

Players' Player of the Year

Season	Player	Team
2001	Jacqui Delaney	Adelaide Thunderbirds
	Catherine Cox	Perth Orioles
2002	Liz Ellis	Sydney Swifts
2003	Cynna Neele	Melbourne Kestrels
	Natalie Sloane
	Mo'onia Gerrard	Sydney Sandpipers
2004 [26]	Janine Ilitch	Melbourne Kestrels
	Raegan Jackson	Hunter Jaegers
2005	Natasha Chokljat	Melbourne Phoenix
2006 [31]	Caitlin Bassett	Perth Orioles
	Caitlin Thwaites	Melbourne Kestrels
2007 [32]	Leah Shoard	AIS Canberra Darters

Grand final MVP

Season	Player	Team
1997
1998[15]	Sarah Sutter	Adelaide Thunderbirds
1999[18]	Jacqui Delaney	Adelaide Thunderbirds
2000[17][19]	Sharelle McMahon	Melbourne Phoenix
2001[20]	Liz Ellis	Sydney Swifts
2002[20]	Sharelle McMahon	Melbourne Phoenix
2003
2004	Catherine Cox	Sydney Swifts
2005	Bianca Chatfield	Melbourne Phoenix
2006	Liz Ellis	Sydney Swifts
2007	Selina Gilsenan	Sydney Swifts

Best New Talent

Season	Player	Team
1998	Natalie Sloane	Queensland Firebirds
1999	Mo'onia Gerrard	Sydney Sandpipers
2000	Cynna Neele	Melbourne Kestrels
2001	Jane Altschwager	Sydney Swifts
2002	Mandy Edwards	Adelaide Thunderbirds
2003	Carla Dziwoki	Queensland Firebirds
2004 [26]	Julie Prendergast	Melbourne Phoenix
2005 [29]	Clare McMeniman	AIS Canberra Darters
2006 [31]	Madison Browne	Melbourne Kestrels
2007 [32]	Ashlee Howard	Melbourne Kestrels

Coach of the Year

Season	Player	Team
2004 [26]	Julie Fitzgerald	Sydney Swifts
2005 [29]	Julie Hoornweg	Melbourne Phoenix
2006 [31]	Julie Fitzgerald	Sydney Swifts
2007 [32]	Julie Fitzgerald	Sydney Swifts

Margaret Pewtress Team of the Year

Season	Team of the Year
2002	GS Eloise Southby (Melbourne Phoenix) GA Sharelle McMahon (Melbourne Phoenix) WA Laura von Bertouch (Adelaide Thunderbirds) C Rebecca Sanders WD Peta Squire (Adelaide Thunderbirds) GD Kathryn Harby-Williams (Adelaide Thunderbirds) GK Liz Ellis (Sydney Swifts)
2003	GS Catherine Cox (Sydney Swifts) GA Sharelle McMahon (Melbourne Phoenix) WA Susan Meaney (Melbourne Phoenix) C Rebecca Sanders WD Peta Scholz (Adelaide Thunderbirds) GD Liz Boniello (Melbourne Phoenix) GK Bianca Chatfield (Melbourne Phoenix)
2004 [26]	GS Catherine Cox (Sydney Swifts) GA Sharelle McMahon (Melbourne Phoenix); WA Laura von Bertouch (Adelaide Thunderbirds) C Sarah Barrett (Sydney Swifts) WD Peta Scholz (Adelaide Thunderbirds); GD Alison Broadbent (Sydney Swifts) GK Liz Ellis (Sydney Swifts)
2005 [29]	GS Catherine Cox (Sydney Swifts) GA Sharelle McMahon (Melbourne Phoenix); WA Laura von Bertouch (Adelaide Thunderbirds) C Natalie von Bertouch (Adelaide Thunderbirds) WD Natasha Chokljat (Melbourne Phoenix); GD Johannah Curran (Melbourne Phoenix) GK Bianca Chatfield (Melbourne Phoenix)
2006 [31]	GS Catherine Cox (Sydney Swifts) GA Sharelle McMahon (Melbourne Phoenix); WA Laura von Bertouch (Adelaide Thunderbirds) C Natalie von Bertouch (Adelaide Thunderbirds) WD Natasha Chokljat (Melbourne Phoenix); GD Mo'onia Gerrard (Sydney Swifts) GK Liz Ellis (Sydney Swifts)
2007 [32]	GS Catherine Cox (Sydney Swifts) GA Sharelle McMahon (Melbourne Phoenix); WA Laura von Bertouch (Adelaide Thunderbirds) C Natalie von Bertouch WD (Adelaide Thunderbirds) Peta Scholz (Adelaide Thunderbirds); GD Julie Prendergast (Melbourne Kestrels) GK Liz Ellis (Sydney Swifts)

Television

ABC were the Commonwealth Bank Trophy league's official broadcast partner.^[26][32]