Ganmain sign Tiger, Kangaroo, Kiwi as Tilyard builds new A grade side

Tilyard signed with the Lions in October and has built what she believes will be a finals contending team.

Anna Sase, Prue Walsh, and Abbey Hamblin return to the side, while two former Lions A graders are back in the fold alongside developing junior club player Jorja Vergano.

After playing A reserve last season Eliza Walsh steps back up, while Meg Jolley returns after a year off.

Perhaps Tilyard's biggest get however if premiership playing Temora Kangaroo Halle Derrick.

The shooter will balance Farrer and Riverina League duties, with Tilyard anticipating she will be available for at least nine games.

"As of this week, which is really exciting, we've picked up Halle Derrick," Tilyard said.

"She was in the premiership side last year, so that's super exciting, she'll be playing Temora as well, so it will be a bit of a balancing act for her but we're very lucky in the sense that we play a lot of Sunday games.

"I was really looking for an extra shooter and I sort of thought, hey, what about Halle, I'll send her a message, no harm done, and that's how it came about."

Alongside herself and Derrick, Kewa Kahuroa (Wagga Tigers) and New Zealander Cameron Puhara have been welcomed into the club.

Though she'll take a fresh look side into the season this year, Tilyard is confident she has the right players for the job.

With a 'ridiculous' number of players trialling with the club, she feels now is the right time to build a strong foundation for the future.

Hoping to concentrate not only on A grade, she wants all grades to have a good depth of talent.

"The fact that we've got so many coming in to trial is awesome, we've got depth in the club," she said.

"We've got juniors who are outstanding, we've had young girls who have come from Wagga this year and joined the club, so it's really exciting seeing how many new players we've had come through, and old players coming back.

"I really am excited to develop A grade, but I also don't want to leave the others high and dry and just focus on A grade, it's really exciting to have the depth that I can draw on, or everyone can draw on, over the coming years."

Choosing to focus on off-court relationships before the season begins, Tilyard said she isn't concerned about being rusty in early rounds.

Deciding to forgo participation in the Wagga Netball Association Premier League, she said finding rhythm together before being on court is her priority.

Their first game together will be played this Thursday (March 21) against North Wagga.

"It will be a good opportunity to pick up on where we need to work on because we are a very new team and we didn't play in the Premier League competition in Wagga, which I know a lot of other teams are," she said.

"Those teams do have that on court advantage, where they've already played, but my focus is building foundations off the court.

"I think we all need to connect, we need to build those friendships, relationships, and if we can manage to do that in the next few weeks, and throughout the season, that's going to be evident on the court."