Seventeen years ago, when I first played for the Swifts in the opening season of the newly formed National League, we played at the Anne Clarke Centre in Lidcombe, in front of 300 people on temporary seating. The ''blockbuster'' games were played at the sports centre and, when the move was made permanently, there were some nerves about the ability to fill it week in, week out. Now that is happening, the next logical move is for Allphones to become their new home venue. Crowds of 10,000 will soon become the norm, rather than the exception.

These crowds are not just a Sydney phenomenon. On Sunday over 8000 fans cheered the Melbourne Vixens against West Coast Fever in their last home game before the finals. This crowd comes hard on the heels of the almost 7000 who packed in the game before to see their beloved Vixens take on the Swifts. Both clubs have membership bases in excess of 2000 apiece, and crowd numbers are increasing by about 14 per cent year on year.

All of this is great news for a sport in which its strength has traditionally been its huge grassroots numbers. Netball boasts almost half a million registered participants, and is one of only a couple of sports which are increasing membership year on year. This grassroots strength is rightly celebrated, with National Netball Day on May 31 being the first formal day set aside to celebrate netball in the community.

Historically, though, the challenge for netball has been to turn these huge numbers at grassroots level into bums on seats and eyes on screen for the premium product. The first part of that challenge is now being met. That club games are starting to eclipse attendance figures for the NRL and nipping at the heels of the lower end of the AFL is something worth getting excited about.

The next part of the challenge is to get eyeballs on TV screens. While ratings for the 2014 season are strong, they must get better if netball is to challenge the supremacy of the football codes. To do that, the sport needs to offer something more. The product is great – now it's time to push the personalities.