The NSW Swifts' focus has switched to re-signing their playing roster following Saturday's final-round loss to Queensland, with coach Rob Wright confident his entire starting seven will put pen to paper before the Super Netball grand final in three weeks.
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Only captain Abbey McCulloch and English import Helen Housby signed multi-year deals when Wright built his Swifts roster last season, meaning eight of the club's 10 listed players are out of contract this season.
Superstar shooter Sam Wallace is believed to be close to committing her immediate future to the club after the Trinidadian international's stunning first season in Australia where she led the Swifts in the attacking circle.
And Wright hoped to have international Paige Hadley, midcourter Maddy Proud and defensive pair Sarah Klau, and Maddy Turner signed within the next few weeks.
The Swifts coach is also keen on securing the services of midcourter Claire O'Brien, who was recently selected in Australia's under-21s World Youth Cup side.
Rival clubs aren't allowed to approach out-of-contract players until the grand final has been played and Wright was hopeful the bulk of his 2018 playing roster would be locked in before then.
"We're really trying to get them signed and locked away before anyone else contemplates thinking about them," Wright said.
"The quicker the better for me because we want to make sure that we don't have like last year where most of the calls were telling us that we're losing people not keeping them.
"Our entire starting group we want back and we're going to work damn hard to get all of them back, we don't want any of them going anywhere.
"We're only in the process of doing it now. That stuff's all in the process of going out to them now, then it'll be up to them to negotiate and I'll work with Netball NSW to get that stuff locked away."
Wright lost six star players after last year's ANZ Championship grand final loss to Queensland, forcing him into a complete rebuild at the once mighty club.
NSW managed just three wins in the inaugural Super Netball and were well beaten by the Firebirds on Saturday, but they showed plenty of promise throughout the season and Wright remains confident he has a roster capable of a rapid return to finals action.
The club also plans to be active after the grand final to further strengthen their playing squad.
"We'll always be looking at how to we just keep making sure that we keep getting better," Wright said.
"We're relatively close to what we want in terms of what we've already got but we certainly know there's a couple of positions that we want to strengthen.
"Like every team we want to make sure that the team that we put out next year is better than what we've got currently. We know every year is going to get tougher so we want to see what's about, so we'll be on the scout."
"From what I've been told by the girls and I'm sure they're not lying to me, they've all had a great time up here and a lot of the girls I guess spent a couple of years in their home states and they've come up here and absolutely flourished," McCulloch said.
"With another preseason under our belts we're just going to get better and better. We will stay together, and we'll play finals next year and we'll be winning this championship soon."
