Gun defender Hart, who guided the Demons to the 2019 grand final, won't be back this year due to personal commitments, and the club remains on the lookout for a replacement.

The team has lost a handful of key players the past two years due to varying factors, and the club's netball coordinator Jess Fuller said they will be exposing more talented youngsters to first grade.

"We've tried a few (coaching) options with no luck. But if we can't find anyone new, then one of the girls who have been there for a while will take it on, or it could even be a shared role," she said.

"Our side looks like it will be fairly strong. It will be young again and we've got a few girls who played 17s play a bit of first grade (last year), but they probably deserve a bit more of a go.

"That's where I want to go with the club. We've had a fair few years of success, but there hasn't been much movement (in our first grade team) for five or six years, and then we've had a lot of players retire or move on from the area.

OTHER NEWS

"If we bring those younger kids coming through, you're going to keep a good side for even more years."

Fuller said players looking to take care of 'unfinished business' at their current clubs after last year's finals series was abandoned had made recruiting a coach a challenge.

"There were a couple of people who had potential (to join Demons) but how last year ended they want a chance to play a finals campaign with the club they're with," she said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: