The Melbourne Vixens have wrapped up their defensive end for the 2020 Suncorp Super Netball season after signing Jamaican Kadie-Ann Dehaney to a new deal.
Dehaney, 23, will play a fourth season in Melbourne, having formed strong combinations in defence with Jo Weston and Emily Mannix since joining the club in 2017.
But questions still remain over the rest of the Vixens' roster, with the team having so far re-signed the fewest number of current players of any of the eight Super Netball clubs.
Dehaney will be joined in defence again next season by local talents Mannix and Weston, with midcourters Liz Watson and Kate Moloney the only others to have put pen to paper.
Goalers Caitlin Thwaites, Tegan Philip and Mwai Kumwenda, along with midcourter Lara Dunkley, remain unsigned, while veteran wing defence Renae Ingles retired after the team's preliminary final loss against the NSW Swifts.
Vixens head coach Simone McKinnis OAM said Dehaney was a key signing for the club as it chases a maiden Suncorp Super Netball title.
“Kadie-Ann has been a great asset to us on and off the court since she joined us three years ago,” McKinnis said.
“She soaks up all the knowledge she has been given by coaching staff and players and is so determined to improve each season, every week."
“Kadie-Ann adds a level of dynamic presence on court, allowing flexibility and options for us to develop the defensive unit in 2020 and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can bring next season.”
Dehaney, who played for her country at the recent World Cup, said she was honoured to be staying with a club that had become her home away from home.
“The Vixens is a group that believes in family, which is something I’m so grateful for being so far away from my own, so I’m really happy to still be a part of those values," she said.
“To be able to wear the navy dress for a fourth year is an amazing accomplishment and feeling."
