FRIDAY can’t come soon enough for new coach Megan Moody and her Bendigo Lady Braves team.

The reigning SEABL east conference champions head into their 2018 season opener at Diamond Valley on Friday night with not only a new coach, but a host of new players and expectations.

Into the team comes a quartet of Bendigo Spirit players in Gabe Richards, Nadeen Payne, Ash Karaitiana and Kara Tessari, while a mainstay of past Lady Braves campaigns, Andrea Wilson has returned to the fold after a season away playing football and netball.

They join quality holdovers Kelly Wilson, fresh from her third WNBL championship win with Townsville Fire, and fellow guard Bianca Dufelmeier, and plenty of impressive young, local talent in a line-up widely tipped to contend for a national championship.

The early signs have been encouraging, with the Lady Braves winning a pair of matches at the annual SEABL pre-season tournament in Geelong and defeating Albury-Wodonga at Bendigo Stadium a fortnight ago.

To round out their preparation the Lady Braves have had two hit-outs against Bendigo’s Big V youth men’s team.

Moody said a key to her first pre-season had not been overdoing things.

“We had a shorter pre-season in comparison to a few of the other teams,” she said.

“We made the call early to give the girls a longer break because a lot of them were coming off a WNBL season and had come straight off a SEABL season before that.

“It was good not only for their bodies to have a rest, but also their minds to have that good mental break.”

Moody was confident that relaxed, but focused approach would reap dividends for the Lady Braves against league newcomers Diamond Valley.

“You can see the pieces falling into place and everyone enjoying their basketball and wanting to play for each other,” she said.

“That’s pretty exciting when you are sitting on the sideline.”

It’s likely no first round clash will garner as much attention as that between the Braves and Eagles, only some of it being due to how a Bendigo team boasting eight players with WNBL experience comes together.

Plenty of focus is sure to fall on how the Eagles equip themselves during their first season in Australia’s premier winter basketball competition.

Moody said the Eagles represented a bit of an unknown and her new-look side would need to tread warily going into Friday night.

“We know the individuals, but we don’t know them as such as a team – how they have come together, who is going to be their floor general and their leader? she said.

“They have some great young talent in Abbey Wehrung, who will be in Bendigo for the Spirit season, and Maddi Rocci, Ezi Magbegor, Steph Gorman, Lauren Scherf – that’s a really solid group, but come Friday night it will be interesting to see how they have gone in their pre-season as it all really starts then.

“But full credit to Diamond Valley for promoting their teams up into the SEABL, it’s fantastic to see the league grow.”