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The Super Netball season is just around the corner with the season kicking off on Saturday evening. The Adelaide Thunderbirds will look to become the first team to win back-to-back premierships since the Sunshine Coast Lightning famously achieved that success in 2017 and 2018, but several offseason changes at the club means new faces will have to step up to make their mark in pink. While in Melbourne, 2024 will see the introduction of the Melbourne Mavericks. The side have been battling with an injury crisis already in their first preseason but Tracey Neville will be looking to start their season off with a bang. Read on as we preview the Thunderbirds, Giants, Mavericks and Vixens. ADELAIDE THUNDERBIRDS Captain: Hannah Petty Coach: Tania Obst Last Year: It was just about the perfect season for the Thunderbirds with the club winning their first premiership in 10 years and their first under the Super Netball banner. The charge was led by recruit Eleanor Cardwell who reinvented the Thunderbird's attack end, with the team converting off the turnovers caused by the strong defensive trio of Matilda Garrett (16 intercepts, 41 deflections and 10 rebounds), Latanya Wilson (30 intercepts, 70 deflections and four rebounds) and Shamera Sterling-Humphrey (47 intercepts, 118 deflections and 38 rebounds) who went to a whole new level in 2023. Wilson became the lockdown queen of the competition, dominating the role of wing defence and stopping some of the league's best wing attacks. The Thunderbirds started the season off with a bang, before they suffered a dip in performance coming into the finals, losing three out of four games between Round 10 and 13 including going down to the Vixens, Collingwood and the Sunshine Coast Lightning. It resulted in the side dropping to second on the ladder going into finals, and saw them take on the Swifts at Ken Rosewall Arena. However, once finals came, the Thunderbirds didn't miss a beat, defeating the Swifts in the major semifinal in extra time to go straight through to the Grand Final in Melbourne before they played in one of the best Grand Finals in Super Netball, defeating the Swifts in extra time by one goal to secure the premiership. Look ahead to this year: It'll be a new look attack end for the reigning premiers with Tippah Dwan (Firebirds), Cardwell and Maisie Nankivell (Mavericks) departing the club over the offseason. Romelda Aiken-George and Laura Scherian headline the inclusions for the club, with both bringing in plenty of finals experience with Aiken-George having won three premierships at the Queensland Firebirds and helped the Swifts get to the Grand Final last year, while Scherian won two at the Lightning when they famously went back-to-back. The addition of Scherian provides flexibility for the Thunderbirds to bring Georgie Horjus back into the goal circle, with Horjus dominating at the Fast 5 tournament out at goal attack over the offseason and has been a solid asset in the goal circle for the Thunderbirds in seasons gone by. If Obst opts for a Horjus, Scherian midcourt competition it'll add plenty of speed to the Thunderbirds' midcourt.  The Thunderbirds have also announced that Tyler Orr has gotten the call-up as the 11th player. Orr made her Super Netball debut back in 2020 for Collingwood when she joined the club as a replacement player, with the South Australian midcourter looking to make the most of her opportunities at the highest level. Draw: Firebirds (H), Vixens (A), Lightning (A), Giants (H), Mavericks (A), Fever (A), Swifts (H), Firebirds (A), Fever (H), Giants (A), Mavericks (H), Vixens (H), Swifts (A), Lightning (H) Biggest question for 2024: Can the Thunderbirds go back-to-back? Winning a premiership is hard but going back-to-back is even harder. There have been two sides over the last 10 years to have gone back-to-back, the Queensland Firebirds in 2015 and 2016 defeating the Swifts in both, before the Sunshine Coast Lightning followed in 2017 and 2018. While losing a big game player in Cardwell, they gain Aiken-George who'll be able to capitalise off the defensive gains from the defensive end and will be able to put up consistent shots for the Thunderbirds, while the addition of Scherian boosts the reigning premiers midcourt. The major unknown is the goal attack position, with Frew and Austin having spent some time there across Team Girls Cup, while as we know Horjus can do some damage, especially in the Super Shot period. Once Obst and assistant Cathy Fellows solidify the goal attack position, whether it be Frew finding her feet at Super Netball level, Austin learning to run out parts of games in goal attack or Horjus swinging in, they'll be a real threat come season proper. Prediction: 5th GIANTS NETBALL Captains: Jo Harten and Jamie-Lee Price Coach: Julie Fitzgerald Last Year: It was a disappointing season for the Giants with the team in orange failing to live up to their 2022 season. The Giants never really got going, with a Round 1 loss to the Sunshine Coast by 16 goals already putting the club on the back foot. One of the season highlights for the Giants would have been their first win of the season against the eventual premiers in the Thunderbirds over in Adelaide by five goals. The Giants lineup coming together almost perfectly to get the side their first win. Two huge positives to come out of the season were Jamie-Lee Price stamped her authority on the game by having a career-best season, which saw her get a call-up to the Diamonds World Cup team. She finished the season with 455 feeds to go with her 23 intercepts and 24 deflections. While in the goal circle, Sophie Dwyer stood up, especially with Jo Harten missing some games due to a knee injury. Dwyer was a force in the Super Shot period, scoring 67 for the season only sitting behind Helen Housby and Sasha Glasgow. The Giants ended the season in sixth, with two losses to the Queensland Firebirds really hurting the side. Look ahead to this year: The Giants have a bit of a new look in 2024, the retirement of April Brandley saw former Magpie Jodi-Ann Ward make the switch while local product Erin O'Brien is also joining Matilda McDonell and Ward in the place of Lauren Moore. Both additions look extremely exciting in the defensive circle, Ward will pounce on just about anything coming into the defensive end and what she lacks in height she makes up for with an impressive vertical leap. While O'Brien has shown promising signs in her first Super Netball contract, able to give the likes of Shimona Jok and Eleanor Cardwell a run for their money across the preseason. The only area of the court that has stayed the same is the shooting end, with Harten, Dwyer and Matisse Letherbarrow once again donning the orange and charcoal. This will be the first full preseason for Harten after calling time on her international career last April, so it'll be exciting to see what a full preseason in the Giants environment will do for the star goaler.  In the middle, Maddie Hay has been ruled out for part of the season with a hip injury so the Giants have brought in former English Rose Chelsea Pitman to cover her positon. Having a pre-existing connection with Harten from the Roses environment will certainly fast-track that Giants attack end. While former Silver Fern Sam Winders has come in for now Mavericks captain Amy Parmenter and Winders has looked strong across her first preseason in orange. Able to play across all three midcourt positions but mostly playing across wing defence and sometimes wing attack when Julie Fitzgerald looks to change things up. Draw: Fever (H), Firebirds (A), Vixens (H), Thunderbirds (A), Lightning (H), Swifts (A), Mavericks (A), Vixens (A), Firebirds (H), Thunderbirds (H), Lightning (A), Fever (A), Mavericks (H), Swifts (H) Biggest question for 2024: Can the Giants remain consistent throughout the season? Last season, the Giants weren't able to put a consistent brand of netball together across the season. While they'd play some of their best netball one week, they'd come unstuck the next and heavily relied on Price to get them out of sticky situations. Having more flexibility in the midcourt will help, often last season the Giants didn't have a lot of options they could look to, especially in that wing attack position. Adding Winders will certainly help that as well as help the development of Amy Sligar as the young gun will look to make her mark at Super Netball level and in the Giants side. Prediction: 6th MELBOURNE MAVERICKS Captain: Amy Parmenter Coach: Tracey Neville Last Year: The Mavericks have come into the competition this season for Collingwood, who unfortunately decided to give up their license at the end of the 2023 season. Look ahead to this year: The Mavericks put together a pretty strong team, bolstering their shooting end with Eleanor Cardwell and then Amy Parmenter in the midcourt. They've complemented them with players who have shown that they are more than capable of shining on the Super Netball stage but were often sitting behind different players at their previous clubs. Gabby Sinclair comes over from the Dragons in the UK to return to the Super Netball level and will pair with Cardwell in the circle. Molly Jovic, Masie Nankiville and Tayla Fraser join Parmenter in the middle which will give Tracey Neville some flexibility in the midcourt, with Nankiville and Fraser especially able to play all three midcourt positions. The defensive end will consist of Kim Jenner and Olivia Lewis who both will be looking to hit the ground running at their new clubs and form a dangerous partnership, with replacement players still to be named for Lauren Moore and Sasha Glasgow. It'll take a while for the Mavericks to get those combinations up and running, which have been hampered by the injuries to Glasgow (fractured leg) and Lauren Moore (ACL) across the preseason, especially when the pair were a part of pre-existing combinations within the Mavericks team. Draw: Vixens (H), Swifts (A), Fever (H), Lightning (A), Thunderbirds (H), Firebirds (A), Giants (H), Swifts (H), Vixens (A), Firebirds (H), Thunderbirds (A), Lightning (H), Giants (A), Fever (A) Biggest question for 2024: How will they combat the loss of two of their players due to injury?  The Melbourne Mavericks inaugural campaign has been hampered by two serious injuries to Moore and Glasgow. Glasgow is coming off an impressive 2023, with the former Fever star a Super Shot specialist. Then combining with Cardwell was set to headline the Mavericks team but unfortunately, it wasn't to be to start 2024. While Moore looked to be a strong addition to what is an undersized Mavericks defensive end. Again, no replacements have been named as of yet with it most likely down to Shimona Jok (nee Nelson) and South African Rolene Streutker. While it's unknown at this stage if the Mavericks will be looking at defensive training partners in Brooke Allan or Jessie Grenvold or looking outside of the team environment. In what is a preseason all about establishing connections and team chemistry to have two of your squad members go down is devastating and will throw a spanner in the works for the Mavericks early on. Although in good news, Glasgow is back undergoing her rehab which shows promising signs. Prediction: 8th MELBOURNE VIXENS Captain: Kate Moloney Coach: Simone McKinnis Last Year: It was a disappointing season for the Melbourne Vixens by their standards. When you think of the Vixens in most recent years (2021 aside) they're normally around right until the end. They bowed out in the first round of the finals against the West Coast Fever by seven goals. The Fever got the chocolates over the Vixens in the opening game of the season as well, with the Vixens going down by just one point. Then in the round of controversy that was Round 2, the Vixens got their first win of the season with a Mwai Kumwenda Super Shot after the siren gave the Vixens a one point victory against former cross-town rivals in the Collingwood Magpies. The win was overshadowed by the fact that the Vixens did have two centre passes in a row but it was an impressive fightback by the side who were down by six goals going into the final quarter. Goals after the siren became a bit of a theme for the Vixens season, with Kiera Austin going on to win two games against the Fever and Sunshine Coast Lightning with goals in the dying seconds or on the siren. Across the season, the Vixens had five games decided by a goal with the club winning three of those and losing the other two. Liz Watson was among the best for the Vixens in what was her final season in navy and teal. Watson spent every minute on court for the Vixens while leading the competition with 534 feeds across the 14 games, 50 of which came in the semifinal against the Fever. Amongst wing defences in the league, Kate Eddy flew under the radar but continued to do a mountain of work while shutting down the wing attacks of the competition. Eddy finished the season with 19 deflections, 16 pickups and seven intercepts. Look ahead to this year: It'll be a new look Vixens midcourt in 2024, with no Watson who's departed to the Sunshine Coast. The Vixens have brought in Zara Walters from the Geelong Cougars in the Victorian Netball League and she's a star of the future. The departure of Watson will mean more court time for Hannah Mundy, who's set to reach a new level this season with more opportunities on court. The edition of Walters will provide the Vixens midcourt with more flexibility, allowing captain Kate Moloney to spend more time in the wing defence if required.  In the shooting end, Vixens fans will be excited by the Diamonds' combination of Sophie Garbin and Kiera Austin in navy in 2024. Fans saw in the World Cup final what the combination is capable of and to see it develop week in, week out will be an exciting prospect. Lily Graham also joins the shooting end with Mwai Kumwenda sitting out season 2024 as she prepares to welcome her first child. Graham is an extremely exciting Victorian prospect who has one of the best splits in netball. She will add versatility to the Vixens front end with the ability to play across goal attack and goal shooter. The Vixens also bring in Emily Andrew as the 11th player, with both Andrew and Graham having experience playing together at the Southern Saints in the VNL. While in defence, the Jo Weston and Emily Mannix combination will be back in 2024 alongside a new edition in Rudi Ellis who crosses over after two seasons at the West Coast Fever. Weston didn't play the Team Girls Cup due to a leg injury which meant that fans got to see more of Eddy in goal defence and she certainly impressed, which means that McKinnis will have another lever to pull in 2024 when the season starts. Draw: Mavericks (A), Thunderbirds (H), Giants (A), Firebirds (H), Swifts (A), Lightning (H), Fever (A), Giants (H), Mavericks (H), Lightning (A), Swifts (H), Thunderbirds (A), Fever (H), Firebirds (A). Biggest question for 2024: Can they step up without Liz Watson? The last time the Melbourne Vixens didn't have Watson for a season was 2021 when Watson was sidelined with a foot injury and the Vixens ended up finishing last. Watson has also been a key contributor for the Vixens across the past 10 years, last year overtaking Geva Mentor in the most wins for the Sharelle McMahon medal, having been named the Vixens best and fairest four times. But since then, Mundy has had three years to develop and has even had the chance to represent Australia in the Fast 5 environment. Breaking into triple figures in goal assists for the first time at SSN level, Mundy had 103 goal assists for last year and will be looking to up the ante come 2024. Add to that the recruitment of Kiera Austin, who is a real playmaker in goal attack, as well as Sophie Garbin from the Magpies, it's an exciting attack line. Prediction: 2nd
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