Battle for Melbourne netball supremacy gets personal

NETBALL fans are being promised a “furious and ferocious” start to the Super Netball season as Collingwood seeks revenge against Melbourne Vixens in a derby dubbed ‘The Battle’.

The two teams will meet at Hisense Arena in the season-opener on Saturday, with a sellout crowd expected to be watching on.

Melbourne Vixens beat Collingwood in both clashes between the sides last season, a fact not forgotten by the Magpies who believe they are now better settled entering their second season and ready to shake up the competition.

“We had huge expectations on us as Collingwood last year and for the Vixens to come out and beat us twice, it was definitely a great start to ‘The Battle’,” Collingwood defender Sharni Layton said.

“It’s going to be furious and ferocious. It’s definitely a great start for us to see where we are at because the Vixens were such a strong team last year. So to have them in the first round will really tell us where we are at and where we need to be as the season goes on.

“It’s been the longest pre-season in the history of netball. We know how hard we’ve worked and we want to put that out on court for everyone to see.”

The Vixens finished as minor premier last season only to suffer a straight-sets finals loss, leaving them equally as keen to start the new campaign in the best possible way.

“I think it will be quite fun to have another round of the derby,” Vixens defender Jo Weston said.

“There’s no love lost in terms of them encroaching on our turf of being the main Victorian netball team so I’m sure there will be a bit of fire on court.”

The rivalry was further built on last week, with Magpies training partner Samantha Gooden joining the Vixens’ squad of 10 on the eve of the season as a permanent replacement player for the injured Emma Ryde (knee).