Former WNBL star Mikaela Dombkins is excited by the challenge of helping guide a "quite different" Newcastle Hunters women's side in their Waratah Basketball League championship defence.
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The 33-year-old guard has played for the AIS, Sydney Uni, Canberra and Adelaide in the Women's National Basketball League and returned to the court last year after a couple of seasons out of the game to start a family.
She was "in and out a bit" last season but is set to play a key role this campaign starting Saturday when the Hunters open their title defence against Penrith at Newcastle Basketball Stadium with a new-look team.
Championship-winning coach Shannon Seebohm has left as well as last year's starting five of Jaimee Seebohm, Hannah Young, Lara McSpadden, Jasmin Howe and Brianna Schofield. Newcastle have also lost Alison Ebzery and Cassidy McLean with most players joining NBL1 clubs.
"There's been so many players coming through Newcastle but to have them all at the one time, all in the one team, it was probably the best ABA team that Newcastle has ever produced and it showed that in us winning the championship," Dombkins said.
"It's quite sad that everyone has moved away but it actually sets a standard for a lot of the new young girls coming through. This year we're still going to have the same mindset and the same goals leading into the game this weekend and for the rest of the season."
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Martin McLean has stepped in as coach and will rely on Dombkins, centre Kelsey Moss, who also remains from last year's senior squad, and United States imports Jazmen Boone and Paige Bradley to lead a host of young talent.
"When I agreed to go, people were like, 'Why would you ever do that because you're following probably the best female team that's ever been put on the floor in Newcastle, all that talent, all of the WNBL experience and then Shannon as a coach, why would you ever think about doing that?'," McLean said.
"But I've coached a lot of those younger girls as juniors. Where there's challenges, there's opportunities.
"We've got players like Rachael McGinniskin who is coming up from youth league. They won their championship too and she was the MVP of the youth league for the whole competition."
Boone arrived in Newcastle on Friday and is expected to get some minutes against Penrith. Bradley is expected to arrive next week.
"Jazmen is a guard or forward. She's aggressive, strong. She' s not overly huge but she can rebound really well," McLean said.
"She's mid 20s, so just that little bit more experience. For the younger players, the game is still very quick for them, whereas the older, more experienced players like Mikaela and now Jazmen, the game slows down for them, so they have that ability to control the pace of the game and hopefully mentor the younger ones into how the game is played.
"Mikaela's been around the game for a long time. Last year she was in and out a little bit, she didn't play the full season and probably wasn't at her peak fitness coming back from having a child, but now she's really committed.
"We still have a core of experienced players there, so I expect the first part of the season to be a little bit all over the place. By the middle of the season, we'll be starting to settle down and we just hope we can get a few games under our belt so we're competing for the top four. By the end of the year I think we'll be very cohesive and putting some results on the board."
The women's game on Saturday tips off at 5pm.
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