World Cup stars return to Super Netball
Soreness, fatigue, jet lag and trying to overcome World Cup disappointment loom as the big challenges for the myriad of international stars returning to Super Netball this weekend,
Just over a third of the 80 senior players on the eight club lists are back following the conclusion of a hectic World Cup schedule last weekend in which teams played eight games in ten days.
Netball Australia has allowed clubs to add two extra players to their roster for the next two rounds.
Probably no club faces a greater challenge than competition leaders NSW Swifts, who have to reintegrate five players from three nations and travel across country to face West Coast in Perth.
The Swifts internationals flew directly from England to Perth a couple of days before their home based teammates left for WA, with coach Briony Akle saying some of her World Cup representatives were suffering from soreness.
Adelaide's Maria Folau and Sunshine Coast's Laura Langman are the only two members of New Zealand's World Cup-winning squad playing Super Netball.
For other players, especially the English and Australian contingents, it will be a case of trying to push aside the disappointment of not winning the tournament.
"I think everybody is pretty heartbroken," said Diamonds and Vixens shooter Caitlin Thwaites.
"For us, we've got the expectation that we're going to win ... that's what we put on ourselves.
"We know that a lot of external people also have those expectations of us, so it's really hard to not have lived up to our own expectations around winning."
Akle, and no doubt other coaches, will consider limiting the game time of their returning internationals this weekend.
Akle acknowledged there would be psychological as well physical challenges for her Diamonds players Sarah Klau and Paige Hadley.
"To come away with just losing that gold medal is a big psychological battle to get over and we're aware of that," she said.
The Swifts have brought in New Zealand international Kayla Cullen as a temporary replacement player for Saturday's game following ankle ligament damage to young defender Kate Eddy.
Sydney-based Cullen has played 47 times for the Silver Ferns but wasn't part of their victorious World Cup squad.
Asked what the key would be for teams to hit the ground running after the break Akle replied: "I think it's going back to your routine that you had pre-World Cup and doing all the little things well."
In other games this weekend the Magpies host the Giants, the Vixens entertain the Thunderbirds and the Lightning travel to the Firebirds.