The NSW Swifts will unveil McCulloch as captain on Saturday with Australian Diamond Paige Hadley as her deputy for the inaugural league that replaces the former ANZ Championship.

The pair will lead a fresh-faced Swifts outfit that was decimated by the introduction of the new competition, with six of last season's grand final stars leaving during the off-season.

It's left 26-year-old McCulloch as the veteran in coach Rob Wright's squad and Hadley as the only player on the roster who has played for the Diamonds, although Helen Housby (England) and Sam Wallace (Trinidad and Tobago) provide additional international experience.

Stephanie Wood and Laura Langman have moved to the Sunshine Coast Lightning, Susan Pettit and Kim Green have signed with Sydney's second team the Giants, while superstars Caitlin Thwaites and Sharni Layton shifted to the star-studded Collingwood outfit.

"A lot of people are underestimating us," McCulloch said.

"We're not here to just take part we're here to give it a red-hot crack and that's what we plan on doing.

"We're not happy to lose, we're not happy to sit at the bottom of the table, we're not happy to be compared to teams that have recruited really well – we've recruited well in our own right.

"Every single one of the girls in this team and in our training squad are absolutely capable of amazing things.

"There has been a big turnover but the Swifts culture is quite strong and being players that have been part of the Swifts for a number of years, Paige and I wanted to make sure that we brought that culture along with us but also changed it where we thought it needed to be changed."

McCulloch and Paige were only informed by Wright of their captaincy responsibilities on Sunday, and they'll lead the side for the first time this weekend on the Sunshine Coast in practice games against the Lightning and Firebirds.

Hadley then departs for national duty on Thursday where she'll play for the Diamonds in South Africa and England before returning home about 10 days before the Swifts open their league campaign with an immediate derby clash against the Giants.

It's a game in which McCulloch hopes her team proves to itself that it can be a force this season.

"I don't think it's making a statement for the public, I think it's for us," McCulloch said.

"We've trained so hard these last few weeks and we've still got five or so more weeks before that game. It's really important for us as a team to go out and prove to ourselves and each other so we can say, 'hey, all that hard work has paid off'.

"It's exciting to have a home-town rivalry. They're literally just across the hallway from us, our change rooms face each other.

"We're excited to get out on court and show people that we can compete with these big new teams."

Collingwood looms as the biggest of those new teams, with Layton and Thwaites two of six on the Magpies roster with Diamonds experience."

"They have recruited really well but I think there will be some surprise packages along the way," McCulloch said.

"There's quite a few young teams that will give these top teams a run for their money. These top teams are working hard, they're fit and they've got the skills so I'm not sure it'll be quite the whitewash everyone thinks it will be."