North Ballarat will be without a two-time premiership player and influential on-court leader for its title defence.
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Gun defender Laura McDonald has left the champions for Bendigo due to work commitments.
North Ballarat coach Annie McCartin said McDonald's departure was a "big loss".
"She was a beautiful player and worked lovely with Emma Church," she said.
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"We definitely will miss Laura, but it creates a space for one of our juniors or a couple of juniors to come up and have a go."
McDonald is the only significant departure from a settled group that is hunting a third-straight premiership.
Rising star Poppy Douglass will miss the weekend's season opener due to state team commitments, but McCartin was hopeful her side's blend of young and old would hold it in good stead.
"We've got a beautiful core group that we've more or less retained," she said.
"We've still got Maddie (Selmon) and Poppy (Douglass) in goals. There's Stacey (Matthews) and Gina (McCartin), the sisters, there in mid-court.
"Then you have Emma Church. I call her the big full-back, she holds us up down that end."
McCartin expected to blood a few juniors from the under 19 side and had no doubt her team's wiser heads would thrive as mentors.
"We've got a couple of our young juniors coming up to have their first season of A Grade," she said.
"The girls I've got are just a beautiful team that has gelled together and play for one another.
"They trust one another in however they go about it out there on the court. I know they will look out for each other."
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