Potter had seven local players try out at a training session at Deloraine and said another five or six had expressed interest in attending the next trial day to be held in January after being unavailable to attend.

"The turnout was pretty good for the first one and I was happy with the way it went," Potter said.

"It was good to see a bit of a broad range from young kids aiming for development player spots, and then we had some more veteran types and players in their prime who will look to fill some roles in our senior squad, which was good to see."

He said seven local players took part in the Tornadoes squad last season, along with a few development players.

"We will probably aim for seven or eight local players in the team plus four imports and four development players to give us a squad of about 15 or 16," he said.

"I think we will have a bit of a changeover in local faces - Mariah Payne has gone to college in the US, Emma Russell may have a season off and is looking to get married.

"We could have some new girls to come into that role, but I won't throw any names out there yet because they may not jump on board. But we had some new ones there today and some who we have had previously.

"It will be hard to fill those spots of anyone who leaves our group from last year, but I think we will be able to cover those losses and build a really strong [squad] again locally."

Potter said the next trial day was planned for late January and he expected to name the team after that.

The Tornadoes have already re-signed imports Mikaela Ruef and captain Lauren Mansfield, who returns for her fourth season with the club.

But Potter said SEABL restrictions on imports from the WNBL mean that US import Emilee Harmon will not be able to return to the Tornadoes in 2016 and there were doubts surrounding Alex Wilson.

"Alex wants to come back and we want her to, but it depends on how many minutes she is sitting on in the WNBL - she has to be under an average of 20 minutes a game, and at the moment she is just over that, so it is a tough situation ... she could be back and we are trying to work on that and find a way we can do it, but at the moment we can't say yes or no."