Souths coach Tracey van Dal is unsure of how many times she will get to use talented teenage goal shooter Millie Tonkin this season, so she plans to make the most of it when they face University of Newcastle at National Park on Saturday.
The 16-year-old has just been named in the NSW 17-and-under team for the national championships in Hobart in July and training commitments with the state side are set to her rule out of Newcastle championship netball for the coming months.
"She's playing this weekend, which is great for us against Uni, who are what I consider to be the top side and the team to beat, so we're very excited to have Millie but it's probable that it will be her last game for quite some time," van Dal said.
The match pitches last year's top-two sides against each other. University finished on top of the points table after an unbeaten season with Souths, who collected the inaugural club championship trophy, second.
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Van Dal said starting strongly was imperative.
"Last year against Uni it ended up being a very close game but we gave them such a big start," she said. "We gave them something like an eight-goal start in the first quarter. That's definitely something that we've talked about and we know what we need to do to keep ourselves in the game right from the first whistle and to get over the line at the end.
"They're a great team from one end to the other, there's no denying that. But you can't afford to give teams like that an eight-goal start and that's something we'll be focusing on."
Souths midcourters Zoe Peden and Abbey Leyshon and defender Nakita Jackson are unavailable due to restrictions placed on them by their NSW Premier League team but van Dal said she would still field a strong side including Danielle Taylor, who returns after a couple of seasons out.
"We're excited to have Danielle on court with us and see what she can do," van Dal said.
"She'll bring some more speed and experience to the midcourt. She swings between midcourt and shooting and, particularly now with Millie being named in the NSW under 17s team, Dani will have to step more into that shooter role. She's been training really well and when Danielle is in the goal circle we'll have a fast moving goal circle."
University of Newcastle coach Traci Baber was expecting a tough hit-out.
Circle defender Angela Williams and midcourter Rian O'Hara are both unavailable this weekend for University. Circle defender Veronica Smith is unlikely to play due to an arm injury and Baber is likely to call on 23s player Sophie Hickling.
"They've got a very strong team," Baber said of Souths. "Obviously, you've got to beat the best teams and you've got to beat them twice if you want to finish up there. You've got to try to start strong and beat those top teams.
"I think we've got a strong enough squad that we can do the job with whoever I put out, so there won't be any excuses. I'm confident in the girls that are there in the team to do whatever job we need to do and, if we do it well on the day, we win."
In other round-two action, Junction Stella play Nova Thunder, West Leagues Balance take on BNC Whanau and Inner Glow go up against Kotara South. All games are at 3.48pm. Round one was washed out last weekend. After this weekend there will be a four-week break.
