Dakota Thomas plans to make an impression at the Australian Netball Championships in Victoria in September.
The Kilaben Bay 20-year-old has been named in the Swifts Academy team to compete at the championships, which replace the Australian Netball League and are an opportunity for Super Netball feeder teams to showcase their talent.
The athletic defender, who plays for Central Coast Heart in NSW Premier League, was in the NSW Waratahs team two years ago but last year the championships were cancelled due to coronavirus.
"The first time I made it I was sitting behind some pretty top players, so I didn't get much game time," Thomas said. "I'm hoping this year I'll be able to prove myself and play a little bit more. I feel like I've been tracking alright this year.
"My ultimate goal is to become a [Swifts] training partner and this competition can help the coaches see a bit more of how I play. But just getting court time is my main goal."
Meanwhile, Newcastle championship netball is set to return to National Park on Saturday after a six-week break due to school holidays, state titles and a string of wash-outs.
Unbeaten leaders Souths sit top of the points table on 26 heading into round 12 against fourth-placed West Leagues Balance (19) but Lions coach Tracey van Dal said the lengthy spell felt like "a complete reset".
"It feels like restarting the season all over again, which is a real shame because we were building momentum nicely," van Dal said. "But it's not just us. Everyone is in the same boat."
Souths welcome the return of teenage goal shooting talent Millie Tonkin. Tonkin has not played for several weeks to due commitments with the NSW 17-and-under team.
"That's a big boost for us," van Dal said.
"The focus for us is just going back to basics and doing basics well because it does feel like it is a reset. We only had Millie for the first couple of games and now Millie is back in, so it's forming those new combinations once again.
"So for us it will just be on focusing on ourselves, focusing on ball control, patience with the ball, just to start to build some momentum again."
West have not played since May 29 as their round-nine game with BNC Whanau was also postponed but coach Tracey Baggs was looking forward to the prospect of being able to use NSW Premier League players Maddie Taylor, Tarsha Hawley and Hannah Cullen as needed.
Many premier league clubs restrict players' court time in Newcastle due to load management but the Sydney-based competition is on hold because of the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
"We haven't played for six weeks, maybe seven, so you just don't know consistency-wise what that looks like," Baggs said. "It's those connections.
"Souths are a fast team and they connect very well."
Souths won 39-35 when the two sides met in round five.
Second-placed University of Newcastle (22) meet third-placed Nova (20).
While Nova player-coach Katie Robinson expected Thunder to be at full strength, University have players Claudia Rodwell and Phoebe Seamer affected by the coronavirus-induced lockdowns in the Greater Sydney region as well as sisters Kim and Angela Williams unavailable.
University ended up comfortable 60-41 winners when the two sides met in round five but are were well beaten 46-16 by Souths in their last outing.
"We were close in this one last time up until half-time then in the end it blew out," Robinson said.
"That was a big learning curve for us. I made a lot of changes during the game to try to mix it up for them but in turn that made it harder for us, so I think this time we're a bit more steady with our line-up which will help.
"We're quite similarly matched with this group. What put us out last time was their depth. They had lots of reserves who would come on and play at the same standard and it just ran us down in the end.
"But they're coming off a loss to Souths, which was a huge loss, so that gives us a bit of confidence to know they're not untouchable."
Inner Glow (18) play Junction Stella (12) and BNC Whanau (8) battle Kotara South (14).
All games are at 2.30pm.
