Victorian Netball League 2025 live stream: Western Warriors v City West Falcons, Round 1

While they may have lost a star defender to injury, City West Falcons coach Marg Lind is confident her side’s depth can rise to the occasion when they open the season against Western Warriors on Wednesday night. Watch the round 1 match LIVE here.

City West Falcons is expected to turn to a new recruit to help cover the loss of a star wing defender, as the VNL powerhouse’s campaign for a fourth-straight championship level title begins Wednesday.

Despite boasting a similar line-up to last year’s championship-winning roster, the Falcons have been forced to adapt after star wing defender and Samoan national team player Soli Ropati went down with an ACL injury earlier this year.

The Falcons campaign begins against Western Warriors with the blockbuster round 1 clash to be streamed live and exclusive on KommunityTV from 7pm with the 23&U match also available from 8.30pm.

A three-time premiership player, Ropati’s ability to come up with big stops in key moments is what makes her incredibly difficult to replace.

Head coach Marg Lind said the Falcons may turn to new recruit – New Zealander Charity Nasalio – who is more in the vein of Falcons defender Mel Oloamanu, to help cover the hole left by 27-year-old Ropati, while Chelsea Imanisani was another who could run through the position.

“It will depend on the match-ups, but Charity definitely, we have been playing her in defensive match-ups and defensive roles, so just keeping the options open,” Lind said.

Lind, the league’s longest-serving coach, said the road to a fourth championship flag was far from clear cut.

Opening their season against second-year franchise Western Warriors, the Falcons are expecting a tougher Warriors side to step out on court on Wednesday, following their recruitment of star midcourter Tayla Honey and goaler Poppy Douglass from Casey Demons.

It’s a similar prospect Lind is preparing for across multiple opponents, after a summer of strong player movement across the 12 clubs.

City West's Soli Ropati playing in the 2024 VNL semi-final. Picture: Grant Treeby/Netball Victoria.

“We’re going to be challenged mentally … and we’re going to be challenged by other teams who look like they’ve recruited well,” she said.

For Lind, the strength of her team, rather than any one individual, will be what determines their success this year.

The return of Maddy Romios from maternity leave bodes well for the Falcons’ attacking depth, considering they’ll need to manage goaler Uneeq Palavi and midcourter Montana Holmes’ Melbourne Mavericks’ training partner commitments.

Lind said while they had looked to build Romois back up slowly, the goaler was “looking good”.

Building depth into her squad has been at the forefront of Lind’s mind, after the Falcons were forced last year to seek mid-season fill-ins – such as the returning Olivia Cameron – with other players unavailable.

But it’s that innate ability to adapt and still succeed which saw the Falcons come up trumps again last season, with Lind again going back to the drawing board to dream up new strategies for her squad in a bid to stay at the forefront of the competition.

“Hopefully that can add another string to the bow,” she said.

Despite voicing the Falcons’ disapproval of an expanded VNL finals series this season, which moves from four teams to six without any added benefit to the top-finishing teams, Lind said it “is what it is” before hypothesising it did offer wriggleroom if the Falcons were to drop a few games – they lost just one game in 2024.

Meanwhile, a new-look midcourt will lead the Falcons’ 23-and-unders pursuits this season, following the signings of Olivia Powell, who faces her former club Western Warriors in round 1, and Amelia Holland, who hails from Geelong club Leopold.

The Falcons’ 23&Us bowed out in an elimination final in 2024.