Netball heavyweights Australia and New Zealand could clash as early as the opening game of the 2015 World Cup in Sydney, as organisers aim to increase the amount of competitive games under a new format.
The pool stages of past tournaments have been marked by lopsided blowouts, with the handful of top tier nations not meeting until the semi-finals.
While 16 nations will again be divided into four pools of four, the top ranked two teams in the world will play in the same group.
Likewise, the three other pools will be headed by the third and fourth seeds, fifth and sixth and seventh and eighth.
"What we're aiming to deliver with this event format is many more (tight) contests across the 10-day event than we've seen previously," Netball World Cup CEO Marne Fechner told AAP.
Australia and New Zealand, who are currently ranked first and second respectively, could meet in a headline-grabbing opening game of the August 2015 tournament.
"We could definitely see that and that would be an amazing opening for our event," Fechner said.
Senior Australian and New Zealand players backed the new concept.
"I think it's great," Australian captain Laura Geitz told AAP.
New Zealand midcourt stalwart Laura Langman said: "It will certainly draw the crowds right from day one."
The trans-Tasman rivals have contested the last four World cup finals and Molly Rhone president of the sport's world governing body IFNA, wasn't sure the duopoly was good for the game.
"It would be great for the game if one day we had two different countries in the final, or we had one of these countries (Australia, New Zealand) with another country," Rhone told AAP.
"We used to talk about the top two, we now talk about the top four (including England and Jamaica).
"But my aim would be to see 10 strong competing teams, so you are not able to call (who will make) the final.
Rhone stressed the game was growing beyond its traditional heartlands in the Commonwealth, with expansion especially evident in Europe and Asia.
The top-six ranked countries in July 2014 will automatically advance to the World Cup, with two qualifiers to come from each of regional tournaments in Canada, Cook Islands, Singapore, Botswana and Wales.
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