On rotation ... Mo'onia Gerrard (left), Sonia Mkolama and Rebecca Bulley will anchor the NSW defensive line. Photo: Peter Rae
THEY promise to form netball's version of the Great Wall of China.
In Rebecca Bulley, Sonia Mkoloma and Mo'onia Gerrard, the NSW Swifts boast what is probably the most intimidating defensive line-up the trans-Tasman championship has seen.
Add fringe Australian squad player Kim Smith - who has taken six months off from her job as a lawyer to concentrate on her wing defence spot - and it's easy to see why the Swifts go into the championship's fourth season full of confidence about having a better year than they did in 2010.
Last year the Swifts became the first side to go through a regular season undefeated, only to crash in the finals. This year bookies believe they will go all the way, with TAB Sportsbet listing them as $3 favourites.
The season starts on Sunday with a blockbuster between the Swifts and reigning champions the Adelaide Thunderbirds at Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre.
When the two sides met in last year's finals series, it was one of the most physical games the championship had witnessed, with Swifts captain and goal shooter Catherine Cox forced off the court by a broken nose.
Bulley, an Australian Diamonds representative, was the trans-Tasman championship's player of the year in 2010.
Mkoloma, England's co-captain, is back for her second season with the Swifts in the world's top club netball competition after defying her country's demand that she stay at home this year to prepare for the world championships.
The icing on the cake is tough-as-nails Australian Diamond Gerrard, back in Sydney after three years with the Thunderbirds.
With four strong players rotating through the goal defence, goalkeeper and wing defence positions, Cox struggles to see any opposition attack line getting on top of her team's ''spectacular'' defensive wall.
Swifts coach Julie Fitzgerald agrees. ''I think what the Swifts have this year is undoubtedly the deepest team in the league,'' Fitzgerald said. ''We don't have a weak spot.''
