Fever ready for Firebirds
The ANZ Championship has had a shake-up ahead of season 2015 with rule changes and a new conference system coming into effect.
But the question on the lips of West Coast Fever fans remains the same - can the competition's cellar dwellers make the finals for the first time?
Long-time assistant coach and former captain Stacey Rosman has taken over as head coach and athletic midcourter Ashleigh Brazill has become captain.
Both women are passionate about the WA franchise tasting success.
Fever will face the ultimate test when they open their season against a powerful Queensland Firebirds outfit in Brisbane tomorrow.
Brazill admitted she was nervous ahead of her debut as skipper.
"I didn't think it would feel any different going into game one, but I'm quite nervous," she said.
"Normally all the pressure is on us from media and other people, whereas this year we haven't had that but we've put it on ourselves."
The job of notching a first-up victory will be tougher than ever in hostile territory against the Firebirds, who boast five Australian Diamonds.
"We're not identifying who is in the Diamonds, but what their team strength is and how we're going to combat that," Brazill said. "I think we're heading in the right direction but it's going to be a tough slog."
Brazill said she would be forgetting her friendship with former Fever teammate Verity Simmons, who joined the Firebirds in 2014, with the pair likely to face off at wing defence and wing attack.
Rosman said she felt like a player again as she prepared to go head-to-head with the experienced Roselee Jencke, who last year led the Firebirds to the grand final.
"I probably feel more alive than I've felt for a long time," she said.
"It's more the feeling of when I was playing - the excitement, the buzz, the passion, the emotion.
"You've done all this hard work, you're just so keen to see where we're all at."
Rosman hopes the lapses which have cost the Fever in previous seasons will not happen against the Firebirds.
She said she would go in confident, believing they had done all they could to be ready.
"I haven't seen the lapses we've had previously," Rosman said.
"The girls are able to identify it a lot earlier and they've acted on it through the pre-season."
Young defender Courtney Bruce has recovered from an ankle injury and will be available to take the court.
"I've got some great combinations to go there and I think we can really run Queensland around a bit with some versatility, so we'll see what happens out there," Rosman said.
"You've done all this hard work, you're just so keen to see where we're all at.""West Coast Fever coach *Stacey Rosman *
