Early seasons The league was launched in
1989 as the Gold Netball League. It originally featured just one division. A reserves division was added in 1990 and an under-18 division added in 2000. The inaugural premiers in 1989 were Coastal Raiders. During the early 1990s, Perth Superdrome Bullets were the dominant team, winning four titles in a row between 1991 and 1994 and then a fifth title in 1996.
West Coast Warriors During the 2010s the most successful WANL team was West Coast Warriors. Like Demons, Warriors have also played under several names. They originally played as
West Coast Warriors. They later became
Wanneroo Warriors,
Compact Warriors,
West Coast Falcons and, in 2014, back to
West Coast Warriors. They won their first senior premiership in 1998. With a team coached by
England international,
Ama Agbeze and featuring
Alicia Janz, they won their second premiership in 2012 as West Coast Falcons. They have since won further premierships in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021. Other notable Warriors players include three time Jill McIntosh Medal winner Caitlyn Brown, two time Jill McIntosh Medal winner and Australian Diamond #189
Donnell Wallam and two time Jill McIntosh Medal winner
Andrea Gilmore.
Men's division Between 2001 and 2004 the WANL featured a
men's netball division. Bullets were the inaugural premiers. Coastals won the other three titles. The Men's Division was relaunched in 2018 featuring four teams – West Coast Warriors, Perth Lions, South East Demons and Wheatbelt Flames. West Coast Warriors would go on to win the first two titles before Roar dominated winning 4 in a row. In 2024, Rangers entered a men’s side in the competition and Peel Lightning followed suit in 2026.
Revamped competition Netball WA announced a revamped competition in 2019, initially with seven clubs (Comets, Rangers, Demons, Jets, Warriors and Roar), with Peel Lightning joining for the 2020 season. Now known as GIG WANL under a new sponsorship from the Gold Industry Group, the new format included an Open, 20U and Men's division with most games held at the Gold Netball Centre, rather than at local club venues. Jets and Lightning hold three home games per season in Eaton and Mandurah respectively. The 20U division was reworked to 21U for the 2024 season and beyond. Western Roar has been the dominant club since the new iteration of GIG WANL, winning two Open premierships, five 20U/21U premierships, and five Men's premierships including four in a row from 2022–2025. West Coast Warriors have won the most Open premierships with 3. ==Clubs==