The Central Pulse will have to overcome several challenges to win a third straight ANZ Premiership title this year.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The team has a new coach, four new players and will be without their star goal attack, Silver Ferns captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio for the foreseable future as she takes time away from the game due to exhaustion.
Ekenasio missed last month's pre-season tournament and had not been training with the Pulse ahead of the season opener.
Pulse CEO Fran Scholey said the past 18 months had taken a toll on Ekenasio.
After a distrupted 2020 premiership season predominantly based out of Auckland, Pulse captain Claire Kersten has learned not to look too far ahead.
"While we look like we've got a really normal season at this stage, that's not necessairly guarunteed 17 weeks is a long time," Kersten said.
"We saw at Constellation Cup we changed alert levels which had an impact on where we were playing and not being able to have a crowd for those first three games, so I think being able to be flexible is really important."
The Southern Steel won back-to-back Premierships in 2017 and 2018 but have not been back in the finals since.
Steel captain Shannon Saunders said after the delayed arrival of their England international goal shooter George Fisher, due to MIQ requirements, and pre-season injuries the team was not as prepared as she would like heading into Sunday's Southern Derby against the Mainland Tactix.
But she was realistic about where she would like the youngest team in the competition to be after the round robin games.
"As long as we get in the top three anything can happen so I think that's definitely our goal to get into those play-off spots," Saunders said.
Long-time Tactix coach Marianne Delaney-Hoshek. Photo: Photosport
Last season's runners-up, the Tactix, are labelled as the ones to watch but coach Marianne Delaney-Hoshek was just thankful to still be in the competition.
The Mainland zone went into liquidation last year and the future of the Tactix was in doubt.
Delaney-Hoshek has all new staff working with her but has had the least player changes of any of the six premiership teams and she said keeping hold of her players after a tough 2020 gave them an edge.
"Although you sorta have to refresh and reinvigorate you've got a base to work with so I see it as a real advantage to do that and I think there is a good amount of research that says that too," Delaney-Hoshek said.
Anna Harrison is returning to netball with the Northern Stars. Photo: Photosport
The Northern Stars have six newcomers to the team - including the competition's second oldest player Anna Harrison who turned 38 on Thursday.
Harrison and the other new recruits, including Silver Ferns Gina Crampton and Monica Falkner, come into the South Auckland-based team with plenty of experience and captain Maia Wilson said with the depth of their squad, the 2019 runners-up could cause some upsets.
"I wouldn't be suprised if there's some people in different positions, some may start one week and the next they may not so it's free for all it just means people are fighting for bibs and at the end of the day internal competition is what is going to brew some real gold so hopefully that'll come out," Wilson said.
Silver Fern Gina Crampton joins the Northern Stars. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Northern Mystics captain and Silver Fern Sulu Fitzpatrick knows being a teenager in the top competition could be tough and she is doing all she can to take the pressure off her younger teammates.
Fitzpatrick first signed with the Mystics as a school girl in 2010 before playing for other franchises around the country.
The defender, who brought up 100 national league games last season, is taking the reins for her home club and wants the less experienced players including their young shooters to feel comfortable to express themselves.
Young Mystics shooter Grace Nweke Photo: PHOTOSPORT
"It's very daunting and hard coming in as a young player and so for us who've been here for a long time I think it's a responsibility for us to make sure that they're able to play and their game and they're able to be young," Fitzpatrick said.
"So that's a strength and it's not something that they need to become one of us. They don't have to be a veteran or experienced they can just play and it's our job to work around that."
The ANZ Premiership starts on Sunday with the Pulse and Stars in Palmerston North, followed by the Steel and Tactix in Invercargill and the Mystics and Magic close the opening round on Monday in West Auckland.
