Result: as part of an informal induction that extends well beyond what is learnt in the gym and on the court, Malawian shooter Mwai Kumwenda and Jamaican defender Kadie-Ann Dehaney are now regulars in the VIS pool. "It's hard but we are doing practice so we are getting better each day," says Kumwenda, even if Dehaney demurs. Is she, too, more comfortable in the water now? "No," she laughs. "I'm not worse, but I'm still the same. I prefer netball."

She will get there, eventually, McKinnis recalling an early moment of undeniable progress. "Kadie-Ann started at one end and was doing the kick, kick, kick, kick with the board as far as she could, and then she stopped, stood up, looked back, and she got so excited with how far she'd come," says McKinnis. "And when time MJ [Kumwenda] managed to do two laps the girls were all there cheering her on. It's not just about the netball; you've got to support them in lots of ways."

That includes captain Kate Moloney organising a door-to-door driving roster to training and games, with Dehaney due to sitting her learner's test on Tuesday and Kumwenda able to use her Malawian licence for 12 months but too nervous to drive amid Melbourne's traffic and terrifying trams. She has taken a spin around the carpark with Moloney and is due for some lessons from club sponsor, the RACV. She, too, will get there. Slowly,

Introducing the pair to Melbourne brought has also brought the broader squad closer together. A session at the Australian Open. An NBL game. AFLW. Movies, dinners, walks. The pair may be far from home, geographically, but have been embraced by a new family of sorts.

"They're just such exciting players and it's just been great to have them around," says Moloney. "It's been awesome to watch KD especially just improve and improve. And MJ has been a superstar in the ANZ Champs for a few years now."

Indeed, both players arrived via different avenues, the Vixens having moved to recruit the multiple imports permitted under new Super League rules after losing their previous international, England captain Geva Mentor, to the security of the longer contract offered by the Lightning - their round two opponent on the Sunshine Coast this Sunday.

The youngest of eight children raised by her corn-growing mother, Costa, Kumwenda moved to Victoria from her small African village in 2011 to play for state league team Peninsula Waves after first coming to notice in the 2009 World Youth Cup. The 183-centimetre goaler soon graduated to ANL club Victorian Fury - alongside Moloney - before being recruited by the Christchurch-based Tactix for three successful ANZ Championship seasons.

With the Vixens' electing not to re-contract spearhead Karyn Bailey, the 27-year-old last year became a priority signing for McKinnis, and the player of the 2015 Netball World Cup marked her Super Netball debut with a 29-goal (from 30 attempts) effort in Saturday night's opening round upset of flag favourites Collingwood.

"She's just ferociously competitive. Every training session she's just going hard at it, she wants the ball," says the coach. "I love it, because that fight and that toughness down the end in the shooting circle is really good for us. She's really smart about her netball and she just wants to learn and get better. It's taken a while for the communication to get better and better between everybody - sometimes I can go off babbling and the girls have to go away and translate for her, but it's just good fun.

"I like it that MJ is quite unpredictable, because I think we've been quite predictable for a long time. We've had to learn how to play with that, and vice versa, but it's good for us. It's taking some time to get those connections ... but you can sort of really see it coming together."

Dehaney has a far lower profile and vastly less experience, the little-known 20-year-old a left-field choice for the last spot on the Vixens' 10-player roster. McKinnis needed a circle defender to replace Mentor, and saw in the World Cup bench player a raw but exciting talent who could provide something else the Vixens did not already have, while complementing what was already there.

The rangy, long-limbed Dehaney has fine athleticism, reach and elevation, and is also proving to be highly-coachable. Given her relative lack of previous high performance training, there is both an element of the unknown and considerable up-side. Progress, at least outside the pool, has been swift.

"She's one of those players who will come out and have a go at balls, and she's really quite fearless," McKinnis says. "Kadie-Ann has a bit of an uncanny ability that you just think 'how'd she get that?' A ball's going into a shooter and you think 'oh, it's there', but next thing she's got her hand to it.

"We've got a bit of work to do on building her up up physically and all those sort of elements, but she's just a great kid in terms of wanting to learn and get better and embracing everything - apart from the ice baths - that's asked of her."

Dehaney is intent on improving her defensive skills, joking that the Vixens are turning her into a "monster" by bringing out the "tough, rough and aggressive" side of her game. Were she not in Melbourne, Dehaney would be at home in Kingston playing in the college league, and for the national Open and 21-and-under teams. "My game, it's good," she says. "It's not great, but it's good. I'm improving, definitely."

Dehaney spent some time over Christmas with her Jamaican teammates Romelda Aiken and Malysha Kelly, and is gradually feeling more at home. Both she and Kumwneda are now emerging from their shells, becoming more comfortable in the environment. "They're speaking up, and that's when you know they're getting settled, when they're themselves," said McKinnis. "They've just been great. Really good. Both of them."