This is why the three-time BFNL premiership coach has again been quick to put pen to paper to sign as coach of the Dragons for another season.

The 2022 BFNL season will be Gilchrist's sixth at the helm of Sandhurst, including the BFNL's aborted 2020 campaign.

Remarkably, 745 days after their stirring 2019 grand final win, the Dragons remain as A-grade netball's reigning premiers.

It's a source of both amusement and disappointment for Gilchrist and her team, who are wishing, hoping and praying for a full season next year.

"It's been really frustrating, so much goes into the preparation and it's the same for everyone involved, especially behind the scenes," she said.

'It's not just rocking up on a Saturday and having a game of netball, there's a lot more it and for so many people.

"To get that full season in next year would be great."

After yet another stellar season for the Dragons, who had cemented themselves in second spot on the ladder at the end of the interrupted home and away season, Gilchrist said the decision to coach on was an easy one.

"I was keen for another crack and all the girls have pretty much recommitted for next year, so we are pretty much one in, all in," she said.

While she will keep a close eye on what the club's tryouts produce, with so much depth within their ranks, Gilchrist is envisaging little change to her A-grade line-up going forward.

"As we do, we try and utilise the players within the group. It's a great club and that starts with our junior development and we'll keep trying to get as many players through to A-grade as we can," she said.

The Dragons' enormous depth and talent was on full show in their recent best and fairest count.

The top-four placegetters in the count, headed by the winner Sophie Shoebridge, runner-up Ruby Turner and Meg Williams and Imogen Sexton, who finished equal third, comprise four of the five youngest regular members of the team.

"That is a really great situation for the future of the club," Gilchrist said.

"And for Sophie, it's just an awesome achievement - she totally deserved it

"She works her butt off at training and on game day. With her, it's the old 'you train the way you play'.

"And Ruby (Turner) is having a great time with her netball.

"Unfortunately, a lot of these achievements and (representative) team selections she is not getting to fulfill because of COVID.

"For two years she has made the Victorian team, but hasn't played a game, and she didn't even get a full season of VNL in this year.

"But I'm sure it will come together when it needs to for her."

Turner will get a major chance to impress when she takes part in an Australian under-19 squad training camp, scheduled for December.

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While the chase for a history-making fourth consecutive A-grade premiership is still on the cards - albeit across six years - Gilchrist believed the Dragons could be happy with the efforts in 2021, with 10 wins from 11 games.

"We never want to lose a game, but losing the one we did to a team like Kangaroo Flat is no shame, those games can go either way," she said.

"That was always going to be a great match and we were looking forward to going up against them again and trying to even the ledger and then see what the finals were going to bring.

"We were just hitting our straps at the end of the year, so it's disappointing we couldn't see it through."

In a brilliant season across the board, the Dragons finished second in A-reserve, were undefeated in B-grade and B-reserve, and placed second behind Gisborne in the 17-and-under competition.

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