The Thunder staved off approaches to their star players by re-signing them for the promotion season and ensured a smoother transition to the higher grade with the reappointment of title-winning coach Steve Toy.

Thunder administrator Glenn Wright told the Weekly that stability in the women's section was crucial to aid their move into the Big V second tier when the season begins in March.

"There's not a lot of roster changes and it's a good thing that we've got a stable team," he said.

The Thunder have built a strong reputation for developing players from within their ranks.

That makes this competition-free month of January crucial in unearthing future stars because of the club's reluctance to bring in imports or pay for recruits.

There will be limited opportunities for rookies in the women's section due to a lack of player movement and the success of the team, but the establishment of a youth league women's team for the first time will alleviate any issues.

The inexperienced men's section, however, will see a number of young players come up from the successful youth league team to play under coach Peter Jukes.

"If you look across the Big V a lot of clubs go out and recruit American imports," Wright said.

"We try and develop through our youth league.

"We've got a good junior program so we'd rather do it off our own bat."

The men's team is weaker on paper when compared to last year's squad.

It has lost headline act Shane Moroney to the Melton Thoroughbreds, and Anthony Trigg has returned to Wales.

Moroney has been approached by the Thoroughbreds in recent years and resisted the money on offer, but decided the time was right to test the waters.

"He didn't always bring his A-game and was a little inconsistent, but when he was on he was probably the best player in the division and could have gone on to play at a higher level," Wright said.