Super Netball 2026: West Coast Fever captain Jess Anstiss says they will embrace underdog tag despite injuries

West Coast Fever captain Jess Anstiss has warned other teams to underestimate them at their own peril despite the side heading into the season with a spate of injuries. Anstiss has been named the skipper of the Super Netball powerhouse for a third consecutive season and has been joined by England captain Fran Williams in the leadership group alongside Alice Teague-Neeld as well as sidelined stars Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard and Sunday Aryang. Fever are bracing to be well under-strength for their season opener against Sunshine Coast Lightning at RAC Arena on Sunday, March 15 with both Sunday (knee) and Ruth Aryang (Achilles), Fowler-Nembhard (pregnancy), Zoe Cransberg (foot) and Olivia Wilkinson (ankle) all sidelined. It means a completely different line up will take to the court from the one that played in last year’s heartbreaking grand final defeat to Melbourne Vixens on the back of a league-record 13-game winning streak. Anstiss said Fever would embrace being the underdogs as they looked to claim a second premiership in club history. “There’s been a few changes this year but there’s nothing we’re not willing to take front on. It’s almost refreshing to have a few fresh faces in,” she told The West Australian. “We re-frame it in the way that it’s better to be the underdogs and for people to underestimate us. They did that last year at the start, and we were able to come back and prove a bit of a point. “It’s similar when you have different players, a change in gameplan. Our plan is to go out there and if people underestimate us it’s good news for us, because we’ll go out there and prove them wrong.” Anstiss said it was still tough to think about their one-goal grand final defeat to Melbourne Vixens last year, but the experience would prove invaluable. “You can’t buy that kind of experience being in a grand final away from home, in that hostile environment,” she said. “We’ve got a large majority of the group back again this year, so having that experience will only help us. “There’s definitely a lot of fire in the belly for lots of players this year and we’ve already come up against Vixens in the pre-season, so it was good to get that out of the way.” Fever will continue their preparations when they take on the Adelaide Thunderbirds in Kalgoorlie on Friday afternoon, before the two teams back it up at the Perth High Performance Centre on Saturday from 6pm. It will be the first chance for local fans to see Jamaican shooter Romelda Aiken-George who has come out of retirement to cover for Fowler-Nembhard, while grand final MVP Sasha Glasgow and fan favourite Verity Simmons have returned for the upcoming campaign.