Rival Netball ACT grand finalists Jo Pivac and Tess Pennell have their sights set on Sunday's decider, but the new national netball league is starting to creep into the back of their minds.
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The launch of the new eight-team national netball league has sparked a landmark deal with Netball Australia and the Australian Netball Players' Association that will see netballers become the highest paid sportswomen in the country.
A salary cap of $675,000 means eight clubs will have 10 contracted players to share from a total payment pool of $5.4 million.
As a result the average salary will shoot up to $67,500, with a minimum wage of $27,375, more than double that of the previous deal ($13,250).
Tuggeranong goal-shooter and two-time Canberra Darters player of the year Pivac said the landmark announcement was "massive" for women's sport.
It continues a women's sport boom following the success of the Women's Big Bash League (Twenty20 cricket), Australia's Olympic gold medal-winning rugby sevens team, and the launch of the Australian Football League's women's competition.
"I think, speaking to some of my old teammates at Royals [rugby club] that [the number of] women wanting to play sport has grown quite quickly," Pivac said.
"Having three new Australian teams, especially one here the Canberra Darters will be linked to, I think that will show massive growth in Canberra netball.
"[We'll] hopefully get some more young girls up and playing and staying until a higher level and just not dropping out because they give up."
Arawang wing defence Pennell hopes the deal and extended media coverage will attract more players to the game.
"As well as the wage increase, the media increase that has happened over the past few years has been really great for women's sport," Pennell said.
The new league will get underway in February with a 56-game regular season to run for 17 weeks. Each team will play each other twice before a three-week finals series caps off the season.
The league will also benefit from unprecedented media coverage with a broadcasting agreement to see two live games and two delayed games to be played as a prime-time Saturday night double-header on free-to-air television.
The round's remaining games will be shown live on Telstra TV, with all games to be broadcast live on the Netball Live app.
Teams can begin signing players from September 19.
NETBALL ACT STATE LEAGUE
Sunday: Grand Final – Arawang v Tuggeranong at ACT Netball Centre (Lyneham), 3:00pm.
