The Lightning had one of the soundest defences in the league in coach Matt Hills' first season at the helm, but there was a clear deficiency on the attacking end.

"We had one of the better defences in the competition last season but couldn't score a high volume of goals," Hills said.

A front-line goaler was at the head of the Lightning's wish list and they hit the target with the acquisition of Melissa McCauley.

She arrives from the North East Blaze and is likely to slot straight into a starting position.

"She's a very handy pick-up," Hills said. "She's an experienced senior player who was looking for a change."

Three players with interstate experience have arrived to bolster the Lightning's depth chart.

Megan Fitzpatrick, a goaler with Australian Netball League experience and recruited from the Northern Territory, could feature alongside McCauley.

Madeline Carter (Tasmania) will be a nice addition to the centre court and Nyree Langdon (ACT) will boost the defence.

"We've brought in a lot of new players," Hills said. "We're using this preseason to get our attacking end functioning," Hills said.

The Lightning kick-started its lengthy pre-season campaign eight weeks before Christmas and trained for a month since the turn of the new year.

"It wasn't a long break," Hills said. "You've got to treat a competition of this level with respect."

The Lightning finally got to don the bibs in competitive preseason action at the State Netball and Hockey Centre on Wednesday night.

They played two shortened matches of two 15-minutes halves for a split of result on the night, including a resounding win over Ballarat Pride and a narrow loss to the Southern Saints. "We played some great netball in patches and some very ordinary netball as well," Hills said. "We were pretty happy with our first run."

While Hills was brought in last off-season with a view to the long term, he is hopeful the roster adjustments made this season will results in finals action.

"We expect to be competitive and aim for finals."