Pulse coach Tanya Dearns believes young players offer greater value than bench-dwelling veterans.
"It's nice to have the luxury of veterans on your bench, but if they're not going to get regular game time, then what's the point of carrying them? I'd rather carry a kid that shows a lot of potential and is going to be there for the long-term. They're not just there to be a warm-up buddy - they're there to learn and grow."
The Pulse will field four newcomers - Kate Wells, Samon Nathan, Maia Wilson and Queensland-bred Blaze Leslie - all 18 or under. Dearns said the inclusion of the quartet came about after the Pulse board acknowledged the need to take a long-term view with talent development.
"The mandate the board have given me is a long-term vision to 2018, so I need to start working and developing some players so we can work towards a goal of a championship in 2018."
The new approach meant there was no room on the Pulse roster for Henry or Leota next season - a sad and sudden reversal of fortune for the pair who were in the Ferns starting line-up a year ago.
"If I was being brutally honest I would say those two are at the end of their playing careers and they were potentially positions we could look to the future for, so I had to have tough conversations with both of them around not offering them a contract for 2016," said Dearns. "I had hoped someone would pick them up, but obviously that hasn't happened, which is a shame."
The need to build for the future was also behind the Mystics' decision to plump for youth ahead of experience in their fringe spots next season. Their hand was partially forced through the retirement of midcourter Camilla Lees and Laura Langman's move to the NSW Swifts but rather than looking to buy-in players from other regions as they may have done in previous years, this time the Mystics have gone local.
"Certainly from our perspective we have to look to the future," said chief executive Julie Paterson. "We've got players that have been involved in the ANZ Championship for eight years and at some point there will have to be change so we need to bring through young, up and coming players.
"We've taken the view we need to attack to defend. We've got really great talent in our zone that too easily get picked up by other regions, so we need to get them involved in our programmes."
The need to promote young talent was a shift in mindset Southern Steel coach Janine Southby took a few years back - partly by design, partly through circumstance.
Southby, who coached the New Zealand under-21 team to the World Youth Cup title in 2013, said her position with the national age-group programme allowed her to get a better insight into what young, up and coming players were out there.
"I guess I'd seen enough to think we have got some talented youngsters out there and someone has to give them an opportunity," said Southby.
"The other reality for us at the Steel is that it is really hard for us to attract players to the south. Older players often have jobs, families and other commitments - they don't want to move somewhere that is cold and wet and small and doesn't have the bells and whistles that the bigger cities have."
Southby said franchises need to create the right environment and support structures to ensure success.
"It's having the same expectations of them as the older ones and being patient. They're not going to get it right all the time - no one goes out to play badly, sometimes there are barriers in the way that prevent them from being able to do that, so that has been the big learning for me," she said. "But it's also about having that belief, if the players know that you back them, amazing things can happen."
New faces for 2016
Mystics — Holly Fowler, Michaela Sokolich-Beatson, Megan Craig, Fa'amu Ioane.
Pulse — Kate Wells, Blaze Leslie, Maia Wilson, Samon Nathan.
Tactix — Charlotte Elley.
Steel — Abby Erwood, Jamie Hume.
Four newbies line up for Oz
Melbourne Vixens defender Joanna Weston is the bolter selection in Australia's first post-World Cup netball squad — one of a quartet of uncapped players.
Coach Lisa Alexander also called up Queensland Firebirds young guns Gretel Tippett and Gabi Simpson, and West Coast Fever captain Ashleigh Brazill for expected debuts in next month's four-test Constellation Cup series against New Zealand.
Alexander named an extended 15-player squad, including nine of Australia's triumphant 12-player Netball World Cup line-up that defeated the Silver Ferns 58-55 in last month's final in Sydney.
To help cover the retirements of the other three — defenders Julie Corletto and Rebecca Bulley, and vice-captain and midcourter Kim Green — the coach also recalled defenders Clare McMeniman and April Letton.
For Brazill, the opportunity comes three years after a knee injury prevented her from making her international debut.
"It was awesome to see the girls do so well at the World Cup and it just made me more determined to be a part of that success," Brazill said.
Alexander said Tippett and Simpson were both rewarded for impressive breakout seasons with transtasman champions the Firebirds, while Weston has been staking her claim as a future Diamonds defender at the Vixens alongside England skipper and goalkeeper Geva Mentor and now-retired Diamonds defender Bianca Chatfield.
"Such is the depth in Australian netball, the new inclusions were unlucky to miss out on Diamonds selection for the Netball World Cup," Alexander said.
"But we're excited to be able to further develop our squad and ... defend our Commonwealth Games and Netball World Cup gold medals."
Magic defender Kristiana Manu'a and Vixens midcourter Liz Watson have been elevated into the extended 2015-16 Diamonds squad.
- AAP
