TRISH Wilcox believes her Welsh netball side are in a ‘great position’ as they head to Sydney to launch their World Cup campaign against Fiji on Friday.

Elite performance director Wilcox was speaking after watching her side completely dominate a Tassie Spirit team that had beaten Scotland last week to make it two wins out of three in their warm-up matches in Tasmania.

Wales, featuring Caerleon goal-shooter Georgia Rowe, recorded a resounding 62-39 win over the local side after also beating the Scots 45-36.

“The progression made in a short space of time has been great and it has been good to get all 12 players on court in these games,” said Wilcox.

“Everyone is pushing for a starting place, which is great, and we have learned we are competitive as a squad of 12.

“Going into a tournament that lasts ten days that’s a great position to be in.

“The time we’ve spent in Tasmania has been really important for our preparation for Sydney. It’s really special for us to be able to come to the country that is the number one in the world and to see the atmosphere that is already building.

“We feel very privileged to be here. The people that we have come across are quite passionate about their sport and everybody has been wishing us luck – we feel like we have got some great support.”

Having spent the past eight days in Tasmania, Wales will now move on to Sydney where they will meet Fiji in their opening World Cup pool game at Netball Central in Sydney’s Olympic Park on Friday.

“Our time in Tasmania has helped us to get an idea of the hype and build-up to the World Cup, mainly because netball is so big in the southern hemisphere,” said Welsh skipper Suzy Drane.

“It has been good for us as a team to see what that hype is going to be like on a smaller scale before we get to Sydney, where it will be through the roof in terms of what we are used to.

“As soon as we set off from Cardiff we knew we had the opportunity to almost live like professional athletes for a short period of time. Out task now is to make sure we can do the job as professionals.”

Wales play Fiji at 12.50am UK time on Friday before facing Zambia on Sunday (1.20 am UK time) and Uganda on Monday (8.20 am UK time).