Stinging from last year's grand final capitulation, Melbourne Vixens skipper Liz Watson says her team are out to make history in this year's Super Netball campaign.
Runaway minor premiers, the Vixens fell away in the finals before losing the title decider to West Coast Fever by an emphatic 11-point scoreline.
No team in Super Netball history has managed to rebound from a grand final loss to take the trophy the following year but Watson said the Vixens were up for the challenge.
As an additional spur, the grand final is locked-in for Melbourne as part of a sponsorship deal with the Victorian government.
"Simone (Vixens coach Simone McKinnis) was looking for ways to motivate us and she looked at a lot of different sports and it's historically rare to back up after losing grand finals," Watson told AAP at the season launch.
"So we're saying, 'We want to be that first team that can do that' and it definitely fired us up.
"We want to be back there and the grand final will be in Victoria, so to have a home crowd there to support us would be incredible."
The Vixens will get a test of their 2023 measure in round one, taking on the Fever in a grand final rematch in Perth on Saturday week.
Midcourt ace Watson, who will also lead the Diamonds to the World Cup in South Africa later this year, said her team were keen to make a fast start in the 14-round competition but also wanted to finish well.
"We were very disappointed with how we finished the season off last year," she said.
"Probably the last few games leading into the grand final we weren't performing at our best so we were quite lucky to get there.
"We need to make sure that we start strong but maintain it through the whole season."
The Fever have added ex-Firebird Kim Jenner to their defensive end but otherwise, like the Vixens, are a settled squad.
West Coast skipper Courtney Bruce said coach Dan Ryan had put a line through 2022 to solely focus on the season ahead.
They have hit the ground running, winning the pre-season Team Girls Cup.
"We weren't consistent in 2022 - we had a fantastic finals series but we didn't have that throughout, so we want to try to build that this year from round one all the way through," the Australia goalkeeper said.
After three seasons of condensed games due to COVID-19, which brought the game to the brink of financial ruin, Netball Australia boss Kelly Ryan said they were looking forward to running a season proper.
"We can focus on the netball now on the court and getting fans back into stands without having to be overly concerned about COVID, although we're still cautious and the necessary planning is in place should it have an impact," Ryan told AAP.
"It definitely has a different feel this year and we can start to build some momentum."
