Wednesday, 24 April 2019:
Fitness won't be an issue for Collingwood midcourter Ash Brazill when the Super Netball season gets underway this weekend.
Brazill is rolling right from the AFLW season, where she also plays for the Magpies, into Australian netball's premier competition.
Collingwood meet defending champions Sunshine Coast on Saturday at Melbourne Arena as part of a round-one double header, with the Melbourne Vixens and Queensland Firebirds squaring off in the early match.
Brazill is the only athlete to play and star in both codes, with both an AFLW All-Australian team berth and Diamonds Test caps under her belt.
Former Test captain Sharni Layton also joined the Magpies AFLW team this year after retiring from netball.
The 29-year-old Brazill said netball made her a better footballer, while life in the AFLW has certainly improved her fitness.
"I feel when I'm playing football I'm playing netball," Brazill told AAP.
"Everything I've learnt in netball I use on the footy field, being able to read the ball. I'm not your typical footballer who likes to get in hard for the tackle, I prefer to dodge around them.
"In netball the ball speed is so fast and you've got to be able to read that so in footy I feel I'm able to read it a lot better.
"With footy I had to learn to run longer and I feel like in netball I'm able to finish off a game a lot fitter and stronger and I'm able to go another quarter."
The Magpies have a new coach in former Swifts mentor Rob Wright and some fresh blood as they look to improve on last season's second-last finish.
Brazill, who played under Wright as a junior, rated him as the best coach she'd ever had and felt they also had the right player line-up for success, with ex-Lightning stars Geva Mentor and Kelsey Browne among the recruits.
"We haven't hit our peak since the start of the competition and that's been frustrating, but this year the group is different and the vibe is different," she said.
"Rob doesn't have a starting seven and I think our training's harder than playing games, so it's very competitive and you know if you don't perform, you won't be on the court."
