Launceston Tornadoes start their campaign against Hobart Chargers on Saturday at Elphin Sports Centre at 6pm.

Coach: Sarah Veale

Captain: Tahanee Bennell

Vice-captains: Sarah O'Neill, Macey Crawford

Ins: Trinity Oliver (previously Baylor and Washington Huskies), Lore Devos (Belgian national team), Josie Pinkerton (from NSW), Sarah O'Neill (returning), Lilly O'Neill, Lucy Aherne

Outs: Micah Simpson (Ballarat Miners), Riley Lupfer, Olivia West, Taya Webb

The squad:

The Torns will start young before American Trinity Oliver and Belgian national Lore Devos arrive later this month. Promising talent Lucy Aherne will also be at under-18 nationals early doors.

Last year's captain Keely Froling has made the Australian Opals' Olympic squad and will likely miss most of the season.

Veale said Froling was currently have a break following the WNBL season where she played with Melbourne Boomers.

Veale on the imports:

"The reason we recruited those girls is because they fit our style of play. They cover some key positions for us in the bigs ... to have some professional basketballers in those key positions is something that we've always focused on. They just fit our system. They play with pace, that's what we're going do this season."

Veale's thoughts on 2024:

"We'll go from strength to strength and I think starting without our key imports gives our young girls a huge opportunity to get out and develop on the court. Just like we did at the end of last season when Keely was out with Opals and injured; and we actually played some of our best basketball because we shared the ball so much and everyone had to step up. We couldn't just rely on one obviously super phenomenal player in Froling. How we'll progress from game one to our last game will be significant."

Players to watch: Sarah O'Neill, Lucy Aherne

"I'm excited to see Sarah back on our home court. That girl brings so much heart, soul and tenacity and never gives up. She's so resilient, she's clever and she can shoot. I'm excited to see how much she progresses this year."

Veale said Devonport's Aherne would captain the under-18 Tassie girls at the upcoming nationals.

"She's already played internationally with Australia (under-17s) so she's very exciting," Veale said.

Prediction: Expect Oliver and Devos to give the young Torns a boost when they arrive. Anticipate Launceston will be back in finals with their influx of experienced talent. They narrowly missed the top eight last year.