Despite being a consistently strong side in the Horsham District league, the Demons kept falling at the final hurdle - losing five consecutive finals against the more experienced Natimuk United.

But in 2019, the Demons re-wrote the history books and went on to win their first-ever A Grade netball grand final.

After four consecutive seasons stumbling at the end, the netball side decided to try something new - and it worked.

Laharum worked with Horsham yoga instructor Aaron Schultz, who taught the side the importance of mindfulness, meditation and living in the present.

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A Grade coach Erin Mellington said she felt the training continued to play a part in the players' lives, even through 2020 when no netball was played.

"We will be reincorporating this into our season again and with our new players," she said.

"It's definitely has become part of our lives. I think some of the players still sit down and do their meditation in the morning.

"Just to focus on what Aaron said and we're even doing some different training sessions with throwing some yoga moves in as well.

"It definitely made an impact on our game and would be silly not to do it again. I think all clubs should have that sort of mentality as well. As we've realised over the last couple of years mental health is a big factor in life so if you are looking after your mental health your body should follow."

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Laharum will welcome new players Liv Jones and Faith McKenzie - both Horsham premiership players - in 2021 and new-to-the-region Ash Bylsma, who plays in the mid-court.

"We've still noticed we've had quite a few new faces come along to training which is really good," she said.

"There's certainly fire in everyone's belly from the final. Everyone wants to keep going and we just want to improve all the way from juniors through to seniors.

"I think for a number of years to come everyone will still be riding that high of the 2019 premiership.

"Who can forget it or would believe the year after we wouldn't be playing.

"When we went back to training it felt like we just hadn't left and kept going with what we had in place during 2019."

Mellington said she had noticed at practice matches and during the preseason that the team was very quick and wanted to get the ball moving.

"We just need to be constantly reminding ourselves to settle down and focus on our game plan," she said.

"It's hard to manage the excitement and not let people use up too much energy straight up with the thought of heading back onto the courts.

"We've got some experience within the sides and haven't gone too hard at training and have taken it easy so we know the players will be right to go."

Mellington said with the three inclusions into the side she felt her team was in a good position to make finals - a goal every coach would have.

"I feel we've improved with the year off, which is weird to say in some ways," she said.

"We're not sure what some other teams will look like so our focus will be on our game plan.

"I feel like we can be stronger than we were when we won the premiership but we need to concentrate on controlling our game."

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