Proteas new technical team ready to make a mark

She told SABC Sport after Netball South Africa unveiled its 15-player squad under the new Proteas technical team.

Mdodana says they look forward to making a mark together with head coach Jenny van Vyk, as they take on their first big task as a pair.

"Well, it's gonna be our first task as a coaching pair, Jenny and myself to see how we can get the team ready and prepared for that Malawi test series. It's gonna be important for us to put across our plan, our structures, and our systems because we are new with this group and it's gonna be interesting to see how they adapt and buy into what we want to see or the style of netball that we want them to play," Mdodana said.

"Malawi is always a slippery one for us, we certainly don't take them for granted. We respect them and we’ll have to prepare to the best of our ability as soon as everybody is back in the country to make sure that our team is well oil to face Malawi. It's always a tightly contested [match]."

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The 40-year-old mentor says they went through a rigorous selection process which saw 30 players convene at a training camp in January at Stellenbosch, to trim down the squad to 15 over the weekend.

"We obviously went through quite a vigorous process before identifying the 15. We went through the players using a fine toothcomb. There were trials at the beginning of the year in January in Stellenbosch where selectors were there and the coaches rated the players. Even the players that are out of the country playing overseas were also part of that camp and we've been following what the overseas-based players are currently doing in their leagues. How they're performing, looking at their stats,” Mdodana added.

“We were obviously looking for experience which we've got. We know we lost Phumza [Maweni] and Bongi [Msomi], quite key players of the Spar Proteas. So, we didn't want to have wholesale changes if I can put it that way but looking at the experience and then also adding in some young dynamic fresh inexperienced players, players that have put up their hand and shown their pedigree."