Netball Australia chief executive Kate Palmer says the continued delay over a new collective bargaining agreement is a necessary evil to ensure the sport can compete in an increasingly crowded womens market.A new eight-team Australian netball competition will launch next year and while clubs can approach and negotiate with players, signings cant be announced until the CBA is finalised.It was initially hoped the agreement would be ratified shortly after the trans-Tasman grand final.However talks between the clubs and the Australian Netball Players Association (ANPA) are ongoing nearly three weeks later.I wouldnt say its frustrating. Its one of the most critical pieces in the puzzle, Palmer said on Wednesday.We can have all sorts of other agreements in place but unless we get the athletes piece right, they wont be happy and we wont be happy.They make the league, we need them to be well-supported. Its an opportunity to get it right.Palmer said she was confident the CBA would be finished very, very soon but would not give a definitive date.AAP understands it may take another two weeks.Palmer said Netball Australia and the ANPA were united in their desire to see Australian netballers become full-time professionals - if not immediately, then at some point soon.We both want that but were a little way off, she said.Wed love to be able to pay them full-time, wed love them to earn what an AFL player earns and thats a dream well reach one day.If were going to be competitive in womens sport thats something we need to offer.Its how you get the start right and theres a lot of people at the table trying to make that work.Noeline Taurua, the inaugural coach of new franchise Sunshine Coast Lightning, said the wait wasnt hampering her recruitment efforts.It is what it is. The good thing is everyones in the same boat, she said. John Smoltz Jersey Large . 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BARCELONA, Spain -- Barcelonas next two matches will go a long way to making or breaking its Spanish league title defense.Barcelona hosts league leader Real Madrid in two weeks. But before the seasons first clasico, Luis Enriques side must try to break its peculiar curse at Real Sociedad.Not a particularly daunting ground for most visitors, Anoeta Stadium has proven to be a quagmire for Barcelona.Barcelona hasnt won in its last six visits to San Sebastian, making the trip to the upscale Basque city on the Atlantic coast one of its most difficult of the season.Barcelona can ill afford another slip on Sunday, when it plays Sociedad a day after Madrid will try to increase its four-point advantage when it hosts struggling Sporting Gijon.It will be a very complicated game, Barcelona forward Lionel Messi said of Sociedad. We will play at a stadium where we havent been able to win lately and things get complicated. We need to win.Whether its the often wet and cold conditions, Sociedads relatively talented team, or Barcelonas own squad choices, which have included second-choice players in recent years, Sociedad has Barcelonas number.Barcelona lost at Sociedad 1-0 in April, part of a late-season slide which almost cost it the league title. Barcelona needed to win its last match to secure back-to-back championships.Sociedad, which won the league in 1980 and 1982, has beaten Barcelona in the last four seasons at home, and is in its finest form in years.Socieded coach Eusebio Sacristan, a former Barcelona player and reserve team coach who took over for the fired David Moyes last year, has led the club to iits best start through 12 matches since 2002, when it finished runner-up.dddddddddddd.Sociedad has risen to fifth place after winning its last four matches, outscoring opponents 10-1. Only Madrids ongoing five-game winning streak surpasses that. Sociedad has also won four in a row at home, including a 2-0 victory over Atletico Madrid.Offseason signing Willian Jose has a team-leading six goals, while forward Carlos Vela has scored four times, and veteran midfielder Xabi Prieto has added three more.This season we have more resources, Sacristan said, while urging his team not to take too much confidence from their positive precedents.This is a new season. We have to focus on this match, not on statistics about the past, he said. We will have to exploit our virtues to the maximum.Messi and Luis Suarez will be back after Barcelonas top two scorers missed the scoreless draw against Malaga last weekend. Suarez was suspended for accumulated bookings, while Messi was sick. They have eight league goals, matched only by Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo.Messi scored both of Barcelonas goals in its 2-0 win at Celtic in the Champions League on Wednesday.Barcelona has been better on the road than at home so far. It has won only three of six league matches at Camp Nou, and won five of six away.Besides Madrid, another team that will be pulling for Sociedad is Sevilla. In third place, the Andalusian side can overtake Barcelona in the standings with a victory over Valencia on Saturday. ' ' '