2025 Victorian Netball League live stream: Western Warriors v Melbourne University Lightning, Round 13

An off-season move has proven to be the perfect fit for an emerging goal attack as she and the Western Warriors look to do the double over the Lightning. Watch it LIVE on Wednesday.

Western Warriors recruit Poppy Douglass says her move to the second-year Victorian Netball League franchise has helped instil confidence back into her game.

Douglass and the Warriors will look to build upon a hit-and-miss first half to their season when they play Melbourne University on Wednesday.

Both the Championship and 23-and-Under VNL matches will be exclusively live streamed here on KommunityTV.

The clash comes after coach Kim Bailey’s squad has shown they can match it with some top sides at times, though consistency across four quarters remains their biggest hurdle.

Crossing to the Warriors this season from Casey Demons, Douglass laughed she’d “been around the traps”, with previous stints at Geelong Cougars and former Ballarat-based VNL outfit Selkirk Sovereigns.

But it was the Western Warriors’ proximity to Douglass’ hometown Ballarat which proved a major selling point to make another move, the 22-year-old relishing the Western Region club’s community vibe.

“I think first off, (coach) Kim (Bailey) and I have a good relationship,” Douglass said.

“And then location was a major thing, moving back home was going to be a lot easier.

Poppy Douglass joined the Warriors in the off-season. Picture: Grant Treeby/Netball Victoria

“As there are a lot of country girls (at Warriors) and we also train with the Div 1 and 19s, it creates more of that country sort of club atmosphere, that still trains really hard, works really hard.”

The move has seen the emerging goal attack back herself on court, as she works to find more ways to impact for her team.

“I had lacked a bit of confidence previously so just having belief in myself, that was a big thing,” she said.

“And also just on-court fitness, improving my defensive game and also just backing myself in attack, which Kim (Bailey’s) had a lot of faith in me, in just going out there and playing good games.”

Western Warriors coach Kim Bailey. Picture: Grant Treeby/Netball Victoria

Crossing to the Warriors alongside her former Casey teammate Tayla Honey – who plays country netball under Bailey at Sunbury – helped eased the transition with their in-built friendship and established on-court partnership.

Douglass has also started to form strong connections with wing attacks Ruby Shannon, a Vixens training partner, and Simona Di Filippo.

The opportunity to play alongside and learn off the likes of experienced goal shooter Kim Borger in the Warriors’ goal circle has also raised Douglass’ game.

“I think I’ve been able to learn a lot as a player, she’s (Borger’s) just a really great person,” Douglass said of the ex-SSN sharpshooter.

Western Warriors’ Ruby Shannon. Picture: Grant Treeby/Netball Victoria

“Being able to play in a positive on-court environment with her where we both give each other advice and things we can work on together … I think we’ve created a nice bond.”

The Warriors might not have had the early season results they’d have hoped for – sitting 4-8 and 2.5 games outside a finals spot with six rounds to go - but they’ve shown they can go toe-to-toe with some of their higher-ranked competition, including last round’s heartbreaking one-goal loss to top-six side North East Blaze, following a previous two-goal loss to the Blaze.

“We match up really well against them (Blaze), and to be honest, that game could have gone either way, we were probably a bit unlucky,” Douglass said.

“(But) I think it was a positive (and) it shows we can get up to teams like that when we play good, four quarter performances, which is kind of where we’ve been lacking.”

The Warriors will take confidence from an early-season 10-goal win against Melbourne University when the two clubs face off again on Wednesday, though Douglass cautioned the Lightning would look different to that previous April encounter.

“Being able to really not have any lapses in our game … limiting our errors and converting all our centre passes will really help us nail the basics and hopefully, we can get the win,” she said.