The Fever will take a squad of 13 to the Gold Coast to help manage the workload of the group with the season less than four weeks away.
Fever Coach Dan Ryan said playing four games in three days was a challenge but would also provide opportunities for the extended squad.
“It’s really important again that we are not flogging the athletes too hard and expecting them to go full games back-to-back,” Ryan said.
“Four games in three days is pretty challenging on the body particularly at the intensity at which the weekend will be played at. We will rotate quite consistently, we will probably change the team game-to-game and ensuring that we are seeing what we need to see but also providing opportunities to those that we need to have a closer look at as well.”
Ryan said the chance to play against SSN teams after a series of matches against men’s teams was also important as the squad prepared for the 2023 season.
“The biggest thing for us is just continuing to fine tune our game and more importantly learning about where we are right now. We’ve had very different challenges against the West Australian Men and the Victorian Men and they play a very different style and challenge us very differently to the women’s teams that we face obviously come the SSN season.
“We want to see how we stack up to our direct opposition now, what parts of our games are going well and what parts need a little bit more work over the next few weeks.
“It’s not so much around winning and losing, more about the quality of our game and how we can sharpen our focus when we get back so lots of learning to take from it.”
Ryan said he was happy with the fixture as it allowed Fever to play against three different styles of netball.
“The Swifts with Romelda Aiken-George in there will pose a very different looking team to what we saw last year from them. The very much possession style and offline defence of Lightning. Then a lot of structure and shifts and changes defensively from the Magpies. So three different styles of play which will test us in many different ways and looking forward again to see how we stack up and how we handle those different challenges.”
West Coast Fever Squad
Jess Anstiss, Sunday Aryang, Courtney Bruce, Natalie Butler, Emma Cosh, Jordan Cransberg, Zoe Cransberg, Rudi Ellis, Jhaniele Fowler, Sasha Glasgow, Kim Jenner. Verity Simmons and Alice Teague-Neeld
Training Partner Ruth Aryang will not travel as she continues her rehabilitation from an ACL injury.
Team Girls Cup Fixtures
Friday 24 February, 2pm WST - West Coast Fever v NSW Swifts
Saturday 25 February, 10am WST - West Coast Fever v Sunshine Coast Lightning
Saturday 25 February, 3pm WST - West Coast Fever v Collingwood Magpies
Sunday 26 February - Playoffs begin at 9am WST
Watch the Suncorp Team Girls Cup live and ad-break free on Fox Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo Freebies. Sign up for Kayo Freebies here
