The tournament-style competition will replace the Australian Netball League in 2021, with Netball ACT hoping to secure a licence for a joint-venture team.

Netball Australia has expanded its nomination parameters for the second-tier competition, allowing Super Netball clubs and member organisations to either combine or introduce a stand-alone team.

Netball ACT joined forces with the Sunshine Coast late last year and entered the joint-venture Capital Darters into the ANL.

But the Darters' comeback was stalled before it even started, with the 2020 season cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Netball ACT manager of sport Nicole Bowles is hopeful of extending their partnership with the Lightning for next year, saying initial conversations have been positive.

"We're really excited by the fact we've got a great relationship with the Sunshine Coast Lightning," Bowles said.

"Unfortunately that didn't get to come to any on-court fruition this year, but off-court we've been very supportive of each other through COVID. We're looking forward to putting that into an on-court performance in 2021.

"We're currently in negotiations and working through the details. We're looking forward to finalising what that might look coming out of the 2020 review with them."

Netball ACT has welcomed the decision to change the second-tier competition's structure in 2021, with the ANC to be held in one location over a two-week period.

It follows a review of Netball Australia's high performance structure, with all member organisations supportive of the new model.

There were concerns about next year's Australian netball calendar for elite athletes, given the Youth World Cup's delay would add to an already crowded schedule.

Some of Canberra's top athletes juggle three separate programs, with ANL, NSW Premier League and ACT's State League taking place over winter.

"It'll provide a great opportunity for them to not feel so under the pump throughout the middle of the year. Potentially an athlete could be sitting across three programs, which is a massive workload," Bowles said.

"We were very happy for them to move it outside our State League and hopefully Premier League, with dates yet to be confirmed for 2021. That way they're only looking at a load of two programs at any given time, as opposed to three."

The ANC will take place the week following the Super Netball final, with dates and location yet to be confirmed.

It means, however, second-tier athletes would have missed two successive Super Netball seasons before returning to its feeder competition.

"It'll probably impact those training partners more than anything else," Bowles said.

"In season, they won't have that week-in and week-out competition. But it never truly reflected the Super Netball season, it only covered half of it. That's where our Premier League and State Leagues become critical for those athletes."