The Northern Mystics have become the most successful franchise in ANZ Premiership history, beating the Southern Steel 56-46 in the grand final at The Trusts Arena in west Auckland on Saturday night to claim a record fourth national netball title.
The win, in front of a noisy home crowd, caps a season in which the Mystics finished as minor premiers, earned hosting rights for the decider and carried a six-match winning streak into the final. It also pushes them clear of the Central Pulse as the team with the most titles since the New Zealand competition began in 2017.
The Mystics led from the first whistle and never let the Steel draw level. They were up 15-11 at the first break and 29-23 at the interval, building the margin to ten goals by the final whistle. The platform was a fast, accurate shooting circle and a defensive effort that grew louder as the night wore on.
Goal attack Filda Vui was named player of the match after one of the finest performances of her career. She finished with 27 goals at 93 percent accuracy and was perfect in the opening quarter, sinking all 11 of her attempts to settle the home side early. Alongside her, Silver Ferns goal shoot Maia Wilson added 29 goals and finally got her hands on a championship after losing three previous grand finals with the Pulse and the Stars.
An emotional Wilson summed up what the title meant to her after the game. “Finally got one,” she said. “Fourth time, I can say I actually got a ring today.” She added that the result reflected the whole roster, saying the team was “a team of 13” and that she felt privileged to play in the Mystics dress.
At the other end of the court, the Mystics defence did the quiet, grinding work that wins finals. Phoenix Karaka was a constant nuisance in the Steel shooting circle, hunting tips and intercepts and saving her best for the closing stages. She was partnered by the experienced Michaela Sokolich-Beatson, the Mystics captain, who chimed in with creative reads and a string of crucial late intercepts to choke off the Steel comeback before it could start.
Wing attack Peta Toeava ran the Mystics attacking end with the composure of a player who has been at the heart of this side for years, feeding the circle cleanly and keeping the tempo high. Together the unit gave Tia Winikerei, the Mystics head coach, exactly the controlled performance she had asked for on the biggest night of the domestic calendar. Winikerei has now overseen one of the modern era’s stand-out runs in the competition.
The Steel will rue a slow start they could never quite recover from. Goal shoot Aliyah Dunn was tentative early under the weight of Karaka’s pressure and struggled to get a clean run of feeds from her midcourt. She grew into the contest and landed a two-point shot late in the third quarter, but the Steel could not string together the run of turnovers they needed to reel the home side back in. Defender Carys Stythe worked hard for intercepts throughout, without ever turning the tide.
For the Steel, simply being there was a story in itself. The southern side reached their first grand final in eight years after knocking out the defending champion Mainland Tactix in the elimination final, a result few had picked. They leave the season with their stocks rising even in defeat, having pushed one of the competition’s powerhouses for long stretches of the final.
The night belonged to the Mystics, though, and to a group that had to live with last year’s grand final heartbreak before turning it into history. The 2026 campaign was built on consistency rather than fireworks, with the side rarely beaten once it found its rhythm in the back half of the season. Saturday was the reward, a clinical performance when it mattered most in front of the people who follow them every week.
It is also a timely lift for New Zealand netball ahead of a busy Silver Ferns calendar, with several Mystics players pressing their cases for national selection on the back of the win. Wilson, Karaka, Toeava and Vui have all spent time in or around the black dress, and a title-winning run is the kind of form that selectors notice.
For now, the celebrations are in west Auckland, where a club that has often promised more than it delivered in finals can finally point to four titles and a place at the top of the ANZ Premiership record books.
You can read the live coverage of the final at RNZ, the NZ Herald and Stuff.
Were you at The Trusts Arena, or did you watch the Mystics make history from home? Tell us your thoughts on the grand final and the season in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job π
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