Super netball teams to have first hitouts

Two new Super Netball franchises will have their first public outing on the weekend, with one of them making a major late addition to their roster.

Giants Netball announced on Friday they had signed 2015 Australian World Cup-winning squad member Rebecca Bulley.

The 34-year-old defender had retired after that tournament but has been coaxed back into competition to help the Giants replace Kristian Manu'a who last month ruptured an achilles tendon.

Bulley will have her first hitout with the Giants in this weekend's series of pre-season matches on the Sunshine Coast, which will give the public their first real glimpses of the Giants and Lightning.

The Giants will play the Queensland Firebirds on Saturday and the Lightning on Sunday.

The fledgling Lightning side have their first hitout on Saturday against the new-look NSW Swifts, who back up on Sunday against the Firebirds, the winners of the past two trans-Tasman competitions.

One Lightning player who will miss out this weekend is Australian Diamonds shooter Stephanie Wood.

A knee niggle suffered during pre-season training has forced Wood to withdraw from the Diamonds' Quad series tour of South Africa and England starting later this month.

The Lightning will also go into this weekend without international defenders Geva Mentor and Karla Mostert, who have been called up for Quad Series duty by England and South Africa respectively.

The third new franchise, Collingwood Magpies, will have their first hitouts next week.