But in recent years there has been a nationwide push to open up the sport's doors to more and more male players. Because right now, if you're a male netballer in WA you can join a social mixed netball side, find one of the rare associations that takes only men's teams or join the Superleague indoor competition - but often, that's as "professional" men's netball gets. While not non-existent, opportunities for male netballers can be extremely difficult to come by, and that's where Netball WA's recent plan comes in. Welcome to the big time On Tuesday, the organisation announced plans to launch its own men's state competition on – that is, the netball equivalent of WAFL.

The women's Western Australian Netball League (WANL) competition pulls some of the best players from Perth metropolitan and regional associations to battle it out for a state-wide trophy in a seriously funded, competitive and professional environment – and now, WA men will be given the same opportunity to play competitively.



The pilot men's division will start with four clubs, South East Demons, West Coast Warriors and two teams from the West Coast Men's and Mixed Association. The season will run over the course of nine weeks starting June 29, plus two weeks of finals, with the grand final to be held on September 7. The new elite men's competition means male netballers will now have a development pathway and for many of WA's netball players, this means Saturday netball will no longer be a perceived "ceiling". Jerome Gillbard, a WA state representative and international men's netball player, grew up in WA country town Narrambeen and started playing at his local association when he was in primary school. However, due to the code's strict rules about male participation past the age of 12, he was forced to give up the sport before he moved away for boarding school.

Five years later he picked the netball back up, and hasn't looked back since. Jerome has seen success in WA's competitive Superleague competition, and was selected to represent the state and later Australia at competitions across the country. Like any amateur sportsperson, Jerome is expected to fork out a fair bit of money to pay for the time his team is touring and the commitment of training with West Coast Fever takes up a fair bit of his time. But, he says, Netball WA's commitment to a WANL competition for men has now given a "backbone" to the sport in the state. "There's always been people playing in social competitions all over, but it's often been viewed that that's all there is out there," he said.

"It's definitely hard for young boys – prior to now – to develop their skills, because past the age of 12, they typically can't play in your regular Saturday competition. "There were always rare opportunities, but I think it's really exciting now there's men's WANL. "It'll get the guys who missed out on the opportunity to play a more serious competition at a higher level to give it a go. "With Netball WA giving it a backbone and treating it as something serious they want to get involved in... it's gone a more professional way than before." Diamonds defender Courtney Bruce says Sharni Layton hasn't missed a beat since stepping away from the game.

Where to from here? The introduction of a men's league brings WA into line with a number of other states who have registered official men's state competitions, and the introduction is a positive sign there could be a more formalised interstate competition on the cards in the future. Netball WA chief executive officer Simon Taylor said he was confident the new competition gave male netballers something to aspire to. "The men's WANL competition aims to create a pathway for male members of the West Australian netball community," he said. "Netball is all about inclusion for male and female players and this new division highlights our commitment to making our great game more accessible for those who want to play."

"We have a strong talent pool of male netballers already and I can't wait to see our best men's players battle it out in the new competition." An orientation session for players will be held in the Programs Room at the State Netball Centre at 7:00pm on Monday March 19. To be eligible to play, players must be at least 16 years of age as of December 31 2018.