Despite scoring over three quarters of the NSW Swifts' points last week, coach Briony Akle knows her team can't rely on star recruit Grace Nweke to do the heavy lifting.
All eyes were fixed on Nweke in Perth as she attempted to replicate the potent form in last year's Constellation Cup, having netted 169 goals with a 94 per cent conversion rate for New Zealand.
Nweke starred on Super Netball debut, scoring 51 points to lift the Swifts to a dominant 67-49 victory over West Coast Fever.
But Akle knows rivals will be doing their homework and targeting the 193 centimetre goal shooter.
The NSW coach wants young gun Grace Whyte and English international Helen Housby to step up in Saturday night's match against Melbourne Mavericks in Sydney.
"We need to get to the circle edge more, rather than picking up to Grace. There's a lot to work on, moving into the season," Akle said.
"I certainly think she had a huge impact on the game.
"Our start also wasn't great last week against the Fever. We were 5-1 down in the first few minutes.
"So starting well and just lessening those basic errors in those moments that we don't think matter."
The Swifts face a Mavericks outfit bolstered by the return of England international Sasha Glasgow, who made her club debut last week after missing the entire 2024 season with a broken leg.
A regular in the England set-up and a premiership winner with the Fever in 2022, Swifts co-captain Paige Hadley described the imposing goal attack as a "two-point specialist".
But in the Mavericks' 69-59 loss to the Sunshine Coast Lightning, Glasgow was a slow starter and converted just two of nine super shots.
Hadley doesn't regard Glasgow as the only attacking threat however, with Jamaican international Shimona Jok tallying 37 points against the Lightning.
"She's (Glasgow) the two-point specialist, so we know she's going to be a massive threat," Hadley said.
"It's so exciting for her to be playing after a really tough injury.
"Her partnership with Jok will go from strength to strength. It's massive thing for us (to deal with on Saturday)."
