Hamilton Kangaroos forced to move netball games and training away from Melville Oval

Kangaroos chairperson Lachy Patterson said it was a "slipperiness factor" that led to Netball Victoria's decision.

"Netball Victoria have ruled them unsafe to play on," he said.

"(It's) a combination of the fact the courts are very old obviously, there's water that pools there now and there's some unevenness on the court where water pools.

"It's difficult to get drying conditions there because of the trees around.

"I think we've had these issues in the past but they probably just degraded to a point now where Netball Victoria weren't happy for it to proceed anymore whereas they have been in the past.

"It's just got to a point now where obviously with player safety being our main priority they've said no.

"I think probably what's happened as well with the availability of an alternative within the town which is an A-grade facility, it's made their decision a little bit easier to say 'no you need to move up there for now'."

In 2020 the Southern Grampians Shire announced planned upgrades to Melville Oval under the 'Melville Oval Project'. The project was the second stage of Southern Grampians Shire Council's five-stage $40 million 'Hamilton CBD Activation Masterplan'.

The upgrades were budgeted at $8 million and set to include redevelopments of the netball courts and grandstand renovation. Patterson is hoping to see work on the project begin shortly so the netballers can eventually return to Melville Oval.

"We're working really closely with the shire around announcement of the redevelopment dates which obviously includes new netball courts at Melville Oval and we're hopeful that in the next week or so we'll have some news to be able to share around that," he said.

"That's why we're working on the basis this is going to be short term pain for long term gain to have great new facilities for our footballers and netballers."

Patterson said there had been concerns with the condition of the courts in the past but the club had always been able to fall back on Netball Victoria's approval of the courts. He said measures such as filling cracks with hot-mix had previously been undertaken but were now ineffective.

"While it will make things slightly more logistically challenging we accept that and understand that's what's got to be done in the short term," he said.

The Kangaroos chairperson said there were short-term positives to take from the move.

"We want our netballers to play on facilities that allow them to play their absolute best, so going onto the new courts up at Pedrina Park which have hardly been used yet (is great)," he said.

"There's a silver-lining in everything and it will be wonderful to see them play on courts that are of such quality."

Hamilton's netballers play South Warrnambool at Pedrina Park this weekend in round five of the Hampden league.

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