Fears that new the birth of powerful new rival Collingwood would diminish the nine-year-old Melbourne Vixens have been realised, with captain Madi Robinson set to defect to the Magpies for the inaugural national league season.
The midcourt star is among a list of marquee recruits lured to the Holden Centre, including fellow Diamonds Sharni Layton and Caitlin Thwaites. Robinson's departure, along with shooter Karyn Bailey's axing and veteran defender Geva Mentor's move to the Mebourne Storm's Sunshine Coast-based start-up, mean the Vixens will lose their three most experienced players from 2016.
![On the move: Vixens star Madi Robinson is headed to Collingwood.](/web/20161013204857im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/2/x/2/w/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grasxg.png/1473227265917.jpg)
The dual ANZ Championship winners' big signing, though, is believed to be Malawian goaler Mwai Kumwenda, who has spent the past three seasons at the Canterbury Tactix. The exciting 26-year-old, who spent 2013 with the Victorian Fury after being plucked from the Mornington Peninsula, scored 321 goals to be named Player of the Tournament at last year's Netball World Cup in Sydney. She will replace Bailey in a Vixens' frontline that will regain Tegan Philip from an anterior cruciate tear.
Otherwise, coach Simone McKinnis will rely heavily on a group of emerging talents rated among the best young prospects in the land. The Vixens finished third in the Australian conference this year behind the Firebirds and Swifts, having lost Philip late in the pre-season, and Bailey for multiple games due to foot and knee injuries.
Collingwood declined to comment on list-related matters, while neither Robinson nor Mentor - a joint vice-captain with Kate Moloney this season - could be contacted on Wednesday. The popular and respected pair were first and second in the Vixens' best-player award, the Sharelle McMahon Medal, with Robinson also celebrating her return from a knee reconstruction by winning the Australian conference MVP.
It is believed the decision to leave was a difficult one for the 28-year-old, who said amid initial poaching speculation back in May that "I'd obviously love to have this team stay together for another couple of years and see what heights they can reach. I do believe this Melbourne Vixens team is really exciting and I would love to be there to lead them through it.
"I think we've got the best young talent ... I hope that they can stay together and remain a really tight core group for the next couple of years because I reckon they'll dominate."
Robinson's sister, Kelsey Browne, is also in the Vixens' exit queue. The midcourter will apparently join Mentor - and, it is tipped, Diamonds and West Coast Fever spearhead Caitlin Bassett - plus New Zealand vice-captain Laura Langman - on the Sunshine Coast under Kiwi coach Noeline Taurua.
Indeed, all three new clubs seem to have fared well in the talent carve-up that is still officially on hold due to a delay finalising the collective agreement, but which has largely been settled in recent weeks. No contracts can yet be signed, but most deals are unofficially in place, with unlimited imports permitted but player numbers capped at 10 per team.
The NSW Swifts, grand finalists for the past two years, could be among the biggest losers of the five existing clubs heading into the new eight-team league that will replace the trans-Tasman competition after nine years.
Other than bookends Layton and Thwaites, captain Kim Green and veteran shooter Susan Pettit are thought to be among those headed to the GWS/Netball NSW alliance under former long-serving Swifts' coach Julie Fitzgerald, who returns from a stint with the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic. England shooter Helen Housby is among the Swifts newcomers, while senior English goaler Jo Harten has confirmed the end of her time with the Magic and seems likely to follow Fitzgerald to Sydney's west.
Netball Australia on Wednesday announced its nine-year association with ANZ would end after next month's Constellation Cup series between the Diamonds and the Silver Ferns. The national league, with a new naming rights sponsor, starts in February.