Dan Ryan ahead of R1

Fever’s Dan Ryan has been speakibng ahead of the first round of SSN this weekend.

“It’s a really exciting time of the year, always heading into round one and, you know, first training session in the bag this morning and a real level of sharpness and intensity about the girls work out there.”

“The starting line’s getting really close and we’re in a good spot to be really ready to go and see what we can do.

What do you take out of the the Teen Girls Cup?, How has that integration of my gone and with Shanice now taking on extra responsibilities as well?

“It’s been a great challenge to be honest and I think we all kind of leant into that from day one of preseason that there’s a lot of work to do to kind of reinvent our game plan slightly. It’s been so awesome seeing the players come into their own in that type of structure and strategy and just, you know, unearthing skills that they’ve always had that haven’t necessarily had to use before and that’s been a really fun way to play netball and they’ve all really enjoyed that challenge.”

“I think Team Girls Cup was great validation that we’re heading in the right direction and that all the hard work we’ve put in is then transferring into some really good quality performances on the competition court. The big challenge now is for us to do that in the Premiership points kind of competition where it really matters.”

“So we’re well placed, but we certainly know the challenges will will keep coming thick and fast.”

Olivia Wilkinson, you’ve got her across from Melbourne, she’s sort of made a pretty good start as well. Do you see her as potentially being your starting goal shooter or you’ve got to mix and match a bit before the same start?

“I think the biggest thing is we’ve really tried to ensure that all of our eleven players on our list are good enough to be able to be a starter if we need them for a certain match up or what type of playing style that we’re looking for.”

“I think if you look at Liv Wilkinson, she’s done a brilliant job in pre season and has really thrived in the opportunities she’s got. So she’s certainly put her hand up for a key role for us this year across goal attack and goal shooter obviously, but it’s just been great to see a year two player really take the next step and and really come into her potential.”

“She’s still got a lot of work to do on different parts of her game, but she’s been so impressive in how quickly she’s grown and the hard work she’s put in.”

Another youngster, Ruth Ariang, who’s made some strides in the back half does that free Sunday up. Will we see Sunday more up court this season as as opposed to goal defence.

“I think Sunday’s best position is goal defence and she’s probably played her best games for us in that position and and I rate her as one of the best goal defenders in the world when she’s really doing her job and and playing to her strength.”

“So we’ve got some great depth in that goal defence position with Fran Williams also and Ruth also playing that position slightly different to the other two. But we’ve just got great weaponry in our back four across all of those three positions and probably maximising a little bit more height and range across wing defence than what we have historically.”

“But the challenge for positions and the variety of combinations is something that we’re really excited by.”

Are the Thunderbirds the team to beat again this year?

“I think there’s a lot of times that will put their hand up to be premiership contenders and I think it’s really difficult at this time of the year because a lot can happen across the course of the season.”

“I think Thunderbirds know how to win, they’ve proven that the last two years, so you certainly have to respect them deeply as being a real contender for the title. The other team, you know, you look at I think the Swifts have to put themselves right up there too with the way in which they’ve recruited and how their team looks.”

“To have someone like Grace as their spearhead and Helen as their goal attack, Helen Housby, they’re going to be a really dangerous side. So for them, I think their expectation will be to get their hands on their trophy and that’s why I’m really excited about round one to to test ourselves against one of the one of the big guns and to start at home.”