Souths produced a big win over Inner Glow in round one of Newcastle championship netball at National Park on Saturday but coach Tracey van Dal declared there was plenty of work to do if Lions are to defend their minor premiers title.
Lions led at every break to beat Inner Glow 59-33. They had shot out to a 17-7 advantage by quarter-time and still held a 10-goal lead of 28-18 at half-time after an equal second period.
Souths regained their dominance in the third quarter to outscore their opponents by nine and lead 43-24 heading into the final quarter.
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"It looks pretty convincing on paper, but it wasn't our finest performance," van Dal said.
"We had a lot of forced passes into our goal-shooting circle. We turned over a lot of ball defensively but had far too many turnovers in attack and we'll need to be better next week against Wests."
Wests, who finished two points behind Souths in second spot last year, opened their season with a 57-20 win against Kotara South. Wests led 13-6 at the first break, 22-14 by half-time then 44-20 going into the last quarter.
Player-coach Laura Glendenning said Nova Thunder overcame some "first-game jitters" in their 65-47 win over Junction Stella. Thunder held a 16-11 lead at quarter-time before producing a strong second quarter to be up 34-18 at the main break.
"It was a challenge and full credit to Junction, they stuck it to us first quarter and we had to adjust to what they were doing," Glendenning said.
"But we notched it up a few gears and got some momentum rolling in the second and third quarters."
University of Newcastle were always in control as they set up a 57-28 victory over BNC Whanau. They led 20-3 at the first break, 33-11 by half-time and 44-20 heading into the last period.
