Donnell Wallam of the Mystics shoots. Photo: Joshua Devenie / Photosport
The ANZ Premiership winner will make history in Auckland on Sunday. Either the Tactix will win a maiden title or the Mystics will win a three-peat, something no other team has done.
Mainland Tactix v Northern Mystics
4pm Sunday, 27 July
The Trusts Arena, Auckland
Live blog updates on RNZ Sport
Since the competition began in 2017 three franchises have lifted the trophy - the Steel twice, and the Pulse and Mystics three times each.
The Mystics will become the most successful team in ANZ Premiership history if they win Sunday's final and claim a record fourth.
The Mystics have home advantage having finished on top of the regular season.
This will be the Tactix' third ANZ Premiership grand final. The side lost to the Pulse in 2020 and the Mystics in 2021, where they lost by just two goals.
History against the Tactix
Six of the eight previous ANZ Premiership grand finals have been won by the team who finished top of the regular round and claimed the minor premiership.
The only two occasions the top team after the minor round hasn't won was in 2018 when the Steel defeated the Pulse. And last year when the Mystics beat the Pulse, but that can be attributed to the fact that strike shooter Grace Nweke was out injured for part of the season, which saw the Mystics slip down the ladder in 2024.
The Mystics have won every grand final they have appeared in.
Form book
When the teams last met in Round 10 the Mystics defeated the Tactix 70-56 in Auckland.
The Tactix won the Round 4 meeting 61-50 in Rangiora, but the Mystics were without star shooter Donnell Wallam in that game.
But the Tactix are coming off an impressive 57-52 victory over the Pulse in the Elimination Final.
Fun facts
Coach Robyn Broughton and captain Bernice Mene after Southern Sting beat Canterbury Flames in the 2001 Coca Cola Cup domestic final. Photo: Photosport
Two ANZ Premiership grand finals have been decided by one goal; Last year the Mystics pipped the Pulse by one goal in the dying seconds.
In 2018 the Steel overcame the Pulse 54-53, incredibly the same score as last year's grand final.
The Tactix would claim their region's first National League title if they can defeat the Mystics.
The Tactix and their National League predecessors, the Canterbury Flames, have not won a title since the introduction of franchise netball in 1998. The Flames played in four Coca-Cola Cup/National Bank Cup finals but lost all four to the Southern Sting.
If they take the win, the Mystics will become the first New Zealand team to claim three consecutive titles since the Southern Sting, who won six titles in a row between 1999 and 2004.
Donna Wilkins has led the Tactix to the grand final in her first season as head coach. Tia Winikerei is the most recent head coach to claim the title in her first season, when she led the Mystics to the 2023 title.
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