The South Aucklanders are targeting an improvement to seventh or eighth this year.
They were 11th out of 12 teams in 2003 but coach Tabitha Beaumont hopes a complete remake of the side will get them higher on the ladder.
With just two players (Ruth Hei Hei and Lee Watson) returning from
last year, it is very much a new-look side.
"We are trying to rebuild the team again," Beaumont said.
"We have a lot of new young ones and I believe we have a pretty good group."
Counties Manukau are in the same pool as Netball North, Otago and Western, and are not expected to feature in the top six.
"It is going to be absolutely tough," Beaumont said of the pool.
"I think any team that comes up against North Harbour is really going to come up against it.
"We know Yvonne's [Willering] team are the giants and we are not going to beat them, to be realistic.
"But we have to set our goals for each quarter and just concentrate on our game and reducing mistakes."
Improvement on last year's effort was the main aim.
"This year we have decided to focus on our performance and hold on to our centre passes and that is exactly what we are going to do.
"We want to stick to our game plan and do what we want to do and hopefully not let the opposition run away too fast."
Counties Manukau: Ani Wall, Rosanne Thompson, Casey Mackey, Raylene Benioni, Tracy Watson, Samantha Astwood, Ruth Hei Hei, Italia Tipelu, Teresa Leota, Celeste Brunton, Lee Watson, Helen Ferguson.
