The NSW Swifts will host ColourPlus Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic who earned the right to contest the decider after they held off the Adelaide Thunderbirds 51-49 in the preliminary final.
It`s entirely appropriate that the final at Sydney`s Acer Arena on Monday night will be a trans-Tasman contest, and will be played two days after another classic Australia-New Zealand encounter, the Bledisloe Cup rugby test.
A crowd of more than 10,000 is expected to attend the ANZ Championship final, with some predicting the game could set a new world record for netball attendance. The present record of 14,339 was also set at Acer Arena (then the SuperDome) on 13 November 2004 when New Zealand`s Silver Ferns met Australia. (Australia won that match 54-49.)
The Swifts deserve to head into the match as favourites after defeating Magic 57-56 in the Major Semi-Final a fortnight ago, and winning every game since their Round Six loss to the Firebirds. They also got the better of Magic in Round Three, taking a surprising 50-47 victory in Newcastle.
