QUEENSLAND’S premier netball competition is back with a bang this April with the HART Sapphire Series starting with a triple-header of action at Nissan Arena, as naming rights sponsor HART Sport renews its partnership for a further three years.
The opening round of this year’s Sapphire Division will feature six of the seven participating clubs in action at the home of Queensland netball on April 22 including returning Bond University Bull Sharks facing defending champions ACU Brisbane North Cougars.
The Bull Sharks will be competing in the Sapphire Division having only competed in the Ruby Division in 2022.
After their season opener against the Cougars, Bond will face Gold Coast Titans in the inaugural Sapphire Division Gold Coast derby in round two at Carrara Stadium.
The late withdrawal of the Northern Rays means seven teams will compete in the Sapphire Division, with netball fans set to access the action from anywhere via an exciting streaming announcement coming shortly.
As well as Nissan Arena, matches have been scheduled across Queensland including USC Thunder matches at USC Stadium in conjunction with Sunshine Coast Lightning Suncorp Super Netball fixtures.
Cougars will also host matches at South Pine Sport Complex in Brisbane’s north while the USQ Jets have matches at Springfield Complex and Ipswich Basketball Stadium.
The full fixture for the Sapphire Division is available here.
This year’s Sapphire Division will also feature current Suncorp Super Netball talent with each of the seven clubs to be given the opportunity to recruit from the Queensland Firebirds and Sunshine Coast Lightning lists through an inaugural player draft on March 17.
The player list for the draft is set to be released on March 7, with clubs given the chance to recruit one contracted player from the list to their roster in the draft.
In a further exciting development, naming rights sponsor HART has renewed its partnership in a deal which will extend the association with the competition to a total of seven years.
Having been a partner with Netball Queensland since 2018, the new deal extends HART through to the end of 2025.
The 30-year-old Brisbane-based company – a Queensland success story – produces over 700 products locally to over 100,000 customers across a range of industries such as schools, sporting clubs, fitness, healthcare and childcare.
HART Sport owner Greg Harten said he was thrilled to be extending his company’s association with Netball Queensland and the Sapphire Series.
“HART Sport is excited to continue as naming rights sponsor to the Sapphire Series for another three years,” Harten said.
“As a long term partner of Netball Qld, we know how important this competition is and what a great pathway it has been for many athletes to reach their goals.
“I’m looking forward to another outstanding and competitive season in 2023.”
