Strathmerton and Waaia will commence their Picola District Netball League campaigns this weekend, when the two sides meet on the Bulldogs’ home court tomorrow afternoon.
Two frighteningly-talented lists will go head-to-head in round one, both sides intent on collecting first points.
A stop-start opening few rounds await both teams, with COVID-19 and player shortages bound to affect the fixture list.
Strathmerton will play Katandra in round two, and then face a three-week break, with news both Berrigan and Yarroweyah — their round four and round five opponents — are unable to field A-grade sides this season.
Waaia is in a similar predicament; a round five bye means the Bombers will play one game after Easter, and then will miss round seven where they would usually play the Grasshoppers.
Despite initial interruptions, Bulldogs coach Olivia Osborne has every confidence her side will put its best foot forward in round one.
“It’s a good game to have first up, Waaia are a strong team and a very physical opponent,” she said.
“We’re hoping to get off to a good start in a good, tough first game.”
Last season’s B-grade best-and-fairest, Caitlyn Mills, will take a step up this year and is expected to make her A-grade debut tomorrow.
Milly Foster, who is steering the Bombers’ ship this year alongside Rosie Arnel, said her side would be focusing on getting fundamentals right on Saturday.
“I think we’re just going to go back to basics,” she said.
“When we do play Strathy, I think they’re one of the teams that can get to our heads, so I think just playing our game and trusting one another that we can hopefully beat them will be important.”
An intimidating-looking Bombers outfit will take to the court on Saturday, with Foster excited to see how the team takes shape in the opening rounds.
“We’ve maintained a very similar team to last season, we’ve got Chels Thorne back up in A-grade, Helen and Abbey running the goal area, and then Chlo (Thorne) who was our best-and-fairest last year running the mid-court,” she said.
“I feel like we’ll have a decent team which is exciting, everyone is just super keen to get out there and have a run around.”