Coach Shannon Reinheimer expects the abundance of youth in her side will help it continue to progress,

“There is always room for improvement in all aspects of the game,” she said.

“Hopefully everyone steps up and takes their netball up a level. As our team started to gel together we peaked at the right time of the season last year and to defend our title we will all definitely need to step it up a notch.”

The side matured throughout its premiership campaign but have lost Tara Jasper as a key part of its attacking combination for the new season.

“She is a very athletic and agile player who fed the ball very nicely into Maggie Caris,” Reinheimer. “She will be tough to replace, although it opens up the position for someone else.”

Reinheimer will step out by herself to lead the side this season after previously working in tandem with Jess Cannane. Assistant coach Debbie Reinheimer will give her perspective from the sideline.

“It was a challenge last season having two player coaches on the court at the same time,” she said. “It will be great to have a coach on the sideline giving advice and ideas as the game sometimes looks very different to how I may perceive it out on the court.”

What has you most excited about this season?

I look forward to spending time with all the girls again. Saints is such a great club to be part of and everyone is very friendly. I am excited about the prospect of making finals again. I think after winning the premiership last year it has helped give the young ones more confidence and determination out on the court.

Who do you think will be the team to beat?

Minyip/Murtoa were a very strong team last season and no doubt will be just as good if not better this year. They will be chasing a premiership and they won’t be taking any team lightly.

What are your goals for the 2018 season?

Our goal for the 2018 season will be to defend our title and win back to back premierships. Again, we will have a very young lineup in our A grade side so developing the youngsters into the best netballers that they can be is a strong goal of mine. We would like to improve our consistency over the year, last year we lost many games at the start of the season and didn’t know how to win those tight games.

Who will you look towards to have a big year?

Maggie Caris had a very successful year last year and we expect the same this time around. She is still very young and is continuing to improve game by game.