What Is a Replayed Ball in Netball?

These rules stop a player passing to themselves. The 2024 rules split them into two named infringements: repossession and replayed ball.

Repossession: after you've had the ball

Once you have had possession and released the ball — by passing, shooting, bouncing or dropping it — you may not touch it again until it has touched another player or rebounded from the goalpost (Rule 11.6). The goalpost includes the ring.

This is what umpires call "repossession" under the 2024 rules.

Replayed ball: before you've had the ball

To gain possession, a player may (Rule 11.1):

• catch the ball with one or both hands;
• roll the ball to themselves;
• catch the ball if it rebounds from the goalpost;
• bat the ball once, then catch it;
• bounce the ball once, then catch it;
• touch the ball in an uncontrolled way once or more, then catch it.

Without having possession, a player may also bat or bounce the ball to another player — including after one bat, one bounce, or some uncontrolled touches (Rule 11.7). Going beyond that — for example batting the ball twice in a row and then catching it — is a replayed ball.

Catching your own missed shot

A shooter can catch their own missed shot only if it rebounds off the goalpost or ring. If the shot misses everything, the shooter can't be the next to touch it — that's repossession. The shooter can collect a rebound anywhere they're allowed to be, but to shoot again they must catch the ball without touching the ground outside the goal circle (Rule 9.6).

A simple example

You throw a pass that's slightly off target and nobody touches it. You can't be the one to catch it — that's repossession. But if, before you have the ball, you bat it away from a defender once and then catch it, that's legal.

Legal vs illegal

What the umpire is looking for

Whether the player had possession before the touch in question, and what the ball has touched since they released it — another player, the goalpost, or nothing.

Restart

Both repossession and replayed ball are penalised with a free pass where the infringement happened.

Common misunderstandings

• "Any ball I touch twice is a replayed ball." No — one bat or bounce followed by a catch is a legal way to gain possession.
• "A shooter can always follow up their own miss." Only if the ball hits the goalpost or ring first.
• "It bounced off the floor, so that counts as someone else touching it." It doesn't — the floor isn't another player.

Player tips

• As a shooter, follow every shot in — if it hits the ring, you're allowed to collect your own rebound.
• After passing, be ready to react to someone else touching the ball rather than reaching for your own pass.

Umpire tips

• Use the right terminology: "repossession" for a player retouching the ball after releasing it; "replayed ball" for batting or bouncing beyond what's allowed before gaining possession.

Related rules

These rules sit alongside held ball and footwork as the core ball-control rules. See short pass for the separate rule about passing the ball onto the post and catching it yourself.