WARRNAMBOOL Mermaids will know exactly how their season is shaping after the first two rounds of the season which tips-off tomorrow.
The women's side takes on Big V division one premier Werribee in the season opener at the Warrnambool Stadium, followed by another home game against last year's runner-up Sunbury in the second round.
New coach Peter Davis said although the side would be without injured star Louise McLean (ankle) and Maddy White, who has state training commitments, it was an ideal start to the season.
Davis is delighted with the talent at his disposal and is aiming for a premiership.
"We'll get a very good idea of where we're heading, even though we won't have a full squad," he said.
"We'll get an excellent gauge of the standard of the competition. If we can stay healthy I think we'll have a really good season."
The returning coach, who guided the Mermaids to a win in 2006, said his daughter Katie was close to the tallest player in the team in that premiership year.
This season she will be the fourth or fifth tallest.
Davis said the Mermaids had tried to recruit Katie, who recently married and is now Katie O'Keefe.
"Katie is moving back for work. She wants to develop her chiropractor practise and was tossing up about whether to play or not," he said.
"She doesn't have the time to coach and they approached me to help out. It was a bit of a package deal. It depended on what Lee Primmer (former coach) was doing. I quite enjoyed it when we won the flag in 2006."
Davis said that after stepping down as coach he spent two years travelling.
"This year things seem to be working out pretty well," he said.
"Louise McLean is also coming back after playing with Bendigo in the women's national competition.
"Having Katie and Louise will make a really big difference. It's a very good group to build on and those two girls add an enormous amount of experience and knowledge."
Davis said the first couple of games would be about assessing the opposition and developing as a team.
"I do have a very good group of players, but it's not a team at the moment. Individually they are very good but a lot haven't played together," he said.
"In 2006 we had Katie and an under 18 group that included Nicole Hunt, who is an outstanding player.
"A lot of those girls had come through from under 14s and they knew each other really well. They knew what their roles were in the team. It's that team aspect we have to work on with the current group."
Davis said that talent-wise, the 2010 team was bigger and "maybe better".
"We've been training eight weeks and it's all been about conditioning and strength. They are very athletic, a little older and the conditioning aspects are very important," he said.
"It's very pleasing how they are coming along. Katie and Louise can both play anything from the one spot through to five depending on the make-up on court."
Kate Sewell (187cm) is returning as an inside presence.
"She's very quick and very strong. It will be really interesting to see how she goes in this league. She still has some work to do," Davis said.
"Holly Greene's development was excellent last year and she's captain this year.
"She's a year older and smarter. She's very versatile and I think she'll have a good year.
"With Kate, Louise and Holly, the opposition's best defender can only play on one of them, so that will allow the other two to have some fun."
Davis said Brooke Rudezky was training exceptionally well and Hunt's younger sister Shelly was extremely quick.
"We'll be trying to catch the defence of other teams out. We've trimmed the squad of 18 back to 10," he said.
"Darcy Saunders is an outstanding shooter who is a tall athletic forward. We've also got two girls come through from the Vic Country under 16s, Maddy White and Ebony Rolph. Both are guards/forwards and can play big or small. They are very skilful."
Davis said Portland's Alana Jones rounded out the roster.
"She's athletic and has exceptionally good hands for a tall girl. She's a very good catch and finisher," he said.
White will miss the first four games of the season due to state training commitments while McLean is about two weeks away due to her injury.
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