THE Trans-Tasman Challenge brought plenty of intrigue with both the Melbourne Vixens reigning supreme against ANZ Premiership sides, Northern Stars and Northern Mystics. The tournament proved to be a good opportunity for new recruits and young up and coming players to get some court time and iron out any issues ahead of the season.

Northern Mystics (51) defeated by Melbourne Vixens (61)

The Vixens made no mistake against the Mystics with a strong showing across the ditch. The battle between Mystics goal shooter Grace Nweke and goal keeper Kadie-Ann Dehaney lived up to the hype with the two renowned for their aerial ability but in the end it was the Vixens full court defence that paid dividends limiting any easy entrance into the goal circle. Former Swift, Kate Eddy got her time to shine on the big stage and made no mistake in her new dress using her hands over pressure, quick footwork and deceptive speed consistently throughout the Trans-Tasman Challenge. She paired well with Emily Mannix and Jo Weston down back with the trio working well to cause confusion and run out with an easy 10-goal win 61-51.

Northern Stars (44) defeated by Melbourne Vixens (71)

In their second game of the Trans-Tasman Challenge the Melbourne Vixens really showed who’s boss, flexing their muscles at every turn against a depleted Stars team with a whopping 27-goal victory. They were simply too good across the court with their precise ball movement and strong connections. Recovering from an Achilles injury midcourter Tayla Honey rose to the occasion with her quick ball movement, drive to the top of the circle and transition play while veteran Caitlin Thwaites found herself out of position in goal attack. The 33-year-old paired seamlessly with the likes of Mwai Kumwenda in the goal circle with the two rotating well and most importantly shooting accurately. Youngster Sacha McDonald also got her time to shine with the goaler making her presence felt under the post with her silky movement, accuracy to post and impressive timing. They seemed no match for the Stars defensive end with Oceane Maihi and Kate Burley struggling to combat their experience.

Vixens, assistant coach, Sharelle McMahon was pleased with the natural progression of the side over the weekend and their ability to combat the New Zealand style defence.

“It’s been a great trip from yesterday to today the girls have taken a step up which has been really nice,” she said on the Vixens’ website. “I think the way they brought the ball through court, probably just getting our heads around the zone defence and that different style of marking was a little bit better today.”

In the absence of Tegan Philip the Vixens resorted to a different attacking line-up, one in which McMahon believes will set her side in good stead heading into the 2020 Suncorp Super Netball (SSN) season.

“They coped really well today with all the different changes and that’s going to be important for the season because of our rolling subs, we need to get our heads around being able to come on and off so that’s been really good,” she said.

While it was good to get early wins on the board the assistant coach is more focused on trying out new connections and creating a cohesive group of players.

“I think for us we wanted to get a lot of different things out of this trip part of it was combinations, part of it was just working into things but we want to be successful every time we step out,” she said. “To have those two wins against some really tough opposition was really great.”