Tasmanian Netball League 2025 live stream: Kingston v South East Suns, Round 4

Kingston will take the short trip to take on the Suns as both sides look kickstart their TNL seasons with a win today. Watch the double-header LIVE here.

While it may not have been the start to 2025 they’d hoped for, Kingston coach Tania McNear is confident her side has shown enough signs that they can remain contenders this season.

The Blues had arguably the toughest opening two games of the season of any club, facing off against 2024 grand finalists Cavaliers and Hawks in back-to-back road clashes at the Silverdome.

Going down by tight margins in both, they secured their first win of the season last week against Devon with a shot at squaring their ledger when they face South East Suns on Saturday.

The round 4 clash will be live and exclusive on KommunityTV from 6pm with the U19s clash also available from 4.30pm.

While not making excuses for their start, McNear revealed they had faced unexpected hiccups in the hours prior to the Cavs clash and was pleased with how they responded in the three-goal loss to the Hawks.

“We didn’t have the start to the season we hoped for, that included losing Chloe Litherland to the Pacific Games and Brielle Gordon to an ACL the night before we headed up the highway,” McNear said.

Opposing captains Alanna Cooper (South East Suns) and Nicole Hunt (Kingston) will face off this week. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“This effected the whole team greatly. I had to find fill ins late Friday night to play for us and that is not easy last minute.

“Against the Cavs, we always had a plan of playing different combos and seeing what worked and what needed more work. I said to the group pre-game that our focus was not the scoreboard, it was our connections and combos.

“We had two fill ins who didn’t know our structures, which always makes it hard, and we also chose to give out training partners court time to see how they held up against the northern teams.

“We saw some positives for sure, from our team culture and combos to passages of play. I believe we have one of the best midcourt units in the competition (when they are all together).

“The Hawks game was extremely positive for us. Of course we were very disappointed that we let the game go, but knowing we were up all game until the last few minutes gives us great confidence for the rest of the season.”

While there were a number of aspects of the win against Devon that didn’t please McNear, the Blues were able to flip the script and finish on the right side of a 41-34 score line.

And while it showed they were able to take a number of lessons out of the loss to the Hawks, she is hoping they can take even more into the clash against the Suns this week.

“We are thrilled to have that win on the board, knowing that we should have won against Hawks the week before,” she said.

Kingston Blues head coach Tania McNear. Picture: Linda Higginson.

“We know however, that we didn’t play our best netball. There was certainly some scrappy netball played. I think due to the hot conditions, players were trying to take the easy plays, but instead they made it harder for themselves and needed to work more to secure the win.

“Our defensive pressure and tips to the ball were fantastic and the defensive unit is working really well together this year, bringing a different style to how we played last season.

“The Suns have a tough defensive line up and we will need to play smart to break that. There are a couple of new players in their team who we don’t know much about yet, so we will be watching those line ups carefully.

McNear confirmed Litherland would return to the line-up this week while star shooter Ash Turner departed for Adelaide following the win against Devon.