KIERAN ILES<\/p>\n
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FOR star recruit Jamie-Lee Price, Melbourne Mavericks\u2019 season opener against Giants in Bendigo will be all about her new team, not who they will be facing.<\/p>\n
In a quirky sideline to round one of the 2026 Suncorp Super Netball season, the Australian Diamonds midcourter will open her career with the Mavs against her former side.<\/p>\n
But don\u2019t expect Price, who spent 2017-25 with the Giants, to be daunted by the prospect.<\/p>\n
With both teams undergoing a substantial list makeover during the off-season, including at the coaching helm following the appointments of Gerard Murphy (Mavs) and Nerida Stewart (Giants), both are fresh-look enough to be considered significantly transformed.<\/p>\n
Besides that, the Mavs, with Price in tow, have already met the Giants in the pre-season, the two teams clashing on the Gold Coast in a practice match three weeks ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a blessing in disguise, playing them in the Gold Coast recently. That\u2019s one way to get that out of the way,\u201d the 31-year-old said with club\u2019s round one fixture at Red Energy Arena on Saturday. March 14 in mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike us, the Giants are a very new-look team as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I look at the Giants, I see a lot of the girls who have been waiting for their opportunity, as well as a lot of new faces, including Ned (Stewart) as the new coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am playing my old team, but I don\u2019t feel like it\u2019s exactly my old team with those changes.\u201d<\/p>\n
A raft of ins for the Mavs this season not only includes Price, but goaler Reilley Batcheldor and goal keeper Tara Hinchliffe, both from Sunshine Coast Lightning, while defender Jessie Grenvold has been promoted after being the club\u2019s 11th player last season.<\/p>\n
In a vote of confidence in their development program, Uneeq Palavi and Sacha McDonald have won promotion respectively as a training partner and member of last year\u2019s reserves team.<\/p>\n
While Price, who departed the Giants after winning her third consecutive club MVP award, missed a fair chunk of the Mavs\u2019 pre-season due to her commitments with the Diamonds in their 3-0 clean sweep of Jamaica, she has relished the change of scenery and the challenge of helping build a team still in their SSN infancy heading into a third season.<\/p>\n
\u201cBusy being in the Diamonds can sometimes be a bit disruptive to being in clubland; we were away for like 30 days with the Diamonds, so I\u2019ve kind of been in and out of Mavericks,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut every time I come back the girls are really welcoming and I feel like I\u2019ve slotted in really nicely.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have such a new group \u2026 some key players who have stuck by and stayed on with the Mavericks, but obviously Gez (Murphy) as the new head coach, Richo (Nicole Richardson) who has been the assistant coach since the start, and we\u2019ve got some exciting players, who have joined the Mavericks as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are still a really new team, but I\u2019m enjoying the new perspective from coaching styles.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, I think it\u2019s a case of the more playing time we get together, the better we\u2019ll get.\u201d<\/p>\n
Encouragingly for Mavs fans, she sees definite signs of progress and the team \u2018coming together\u2019 as a unit.\u201cWe\u2019ve had a fair bit of match play the last couple of weeks,\u201d Price said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re quite lucky we have an amazing group of girls who are in our reserves (team) and they are very talented.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey come into trainings every now and then and obviously Gez is still mixed up with the Victorian men\u2019s team, so we get the Victorian men\u2019s players coming in and challenging us as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always good to play against different opposition \u2013 it allows us to try new things, but also learn things about each other that you can\u2019t sometimes simulate in training.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among those training partners and reserves team members are a pair of Bendigo Strikers VNL stars in Charlotte Sexton and Teal Hocking.<\/p>\n
Sexton, a member of Australia\u2019s gold medal-winning 21-and-under World Cup team last year and the best and fairest in each of the Strikers\u2019 first two seasons in the state\u2019s premier netball competition, has crossed to the Mavs after being a training partner with last year\u2019s SSN premiers Melbourne Vixens in 2025.<\/p>\n
Hocking\u2019s elevation as a Mavs training partner was announced only last week.<\/p>\n
Price is a huge wrap for both youngsters.<\/p>\n
\u201cCharlotte has slotted in really well. Seeing her every week and the confidence she is gaining, she is learning lots from the likes of Richo and Gez,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer future is very bright, which is extremely exciting for a Bendigo local.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a big year for her last year, getting picked in the under-21s Australian team, so she\u2019s had a taste of what the international world is like.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing to the Mavs for the opportunity to gain some more experience will be great.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe will learn a lot from Richo, as she specialises in defence and is also the assistant coach of the Diamonds as well. She\u2019s going to go far.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeal\u2019s been coming in a fair bit and is just a great inclusion into our squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is so cool, calm and collected and her timing is impeccable. She adds so much to our group.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have such great training partners and such a good group.\u201d<\/p>\n
It has not taken long for Price to be won over by her new teammates.<\/p>\n
As an outsider coming in herself, she said the recruits and new acquisitions had fitted in seamlessly and demonstrated their preparedness to work hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs clich\u00e9d as it sounds, I can\u2019t single out anyone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of the girls have impressed me; it\u2019s just been really smooth sailing coming in.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven playing our pre-season games, we\u2019ve made lots of changes and put out different line-ups, but it\u2019s been really seamless. It\u2019s what every coach dreams of.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have so much versatility within our group and that really excites me. We are challenging each other lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited to see where we get to as a group. Even though we are really fresh, the sky is unlimited.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever we believe, I feel we can achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet to play finals, the Mavs have shown more than encouraging signs in their first two campaigns to suggest a breakout is not far off.<\/p>\n
Price is confident they can take another step in the right direction in 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a group, we have very high expectations of ourselves and each other, which is great,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut as we are such a new-look team, I feel we can do whatever we believe we can do.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we saw last year, as long as you make the top four, anything can happen,\u201d she added in reference to the Vixens coming from fourth spot at the end of the regular season to clinch a fairytale championship.<\/p>\n
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