Nat O'Dea, who is taking on her first open grade coaching role in the Hampden league, says it will be "the biggest challenge of my coaching career".

She led Penshurst to its first ever A and B grade premierships in the Mininera league in 2010.

The Bombers would go on to win four A grade flags in a row under O'Dea's leadership.

She stepped away from coaching the past three years but continued to umpire.

Prior to Penshurst, she coached most grades at Hamilton Magpies across 12 years and led two A reserve flags and multiple junior premierships.

The Magpies and Hamilton Imperials merged to become Hamilton Kangaroos in 2012.

O'Dea will be assisted by Hamilton netball icon Tracy Barnes and feels lucky to have someone of Barnes' calibre on board.

"To have her support is one of the biggest reasons I took the gig," O'Dea said.

The top-grade coach explained Barnes' help would be crucial as she leads a busy life away from the netball court.

O'Dea owns a hair-dressing business, teaches and is mum to 20-month-old Lulu.

She said her sister-in-law Kim Bailey, who works for Netball Australia and is also a renowned state league coach, would be coming from Melbourne once a month to mentor coaches and players.

"That is our point of difference for next year," O'Dea said.

The new leader feels the Kangaroos are on the way up and believes they have the talent to be a HFNL force.

She said she'll be the first purely off-court mentor the top-grade side has had in years.

O'Dea will coach the open and division one grades next year which has been popular among HFNL coaches in recent seasons.

She wants to build a squad of players who all know the top team's game plan and structures if called on to play at open level.

O'Dea added she would also have a bigger group to work with at training and division one players benefited from training with open-graders.