Adelaide Thunderbirds beat Collingwood Magpies 54-50 in Super Netball opener

The brilliance of Georgie Horjus has steered the Adelaide Thunderbirds to a 54-50 win over Collingwood in their Super Netball season opener.

Horjus set Netball SA Stadium alight in the first half with her exciting play-making from wing attack, racking up 21 feeds and 11 assists, before putting the Magpies to the sword in the shooting circle after the break.

Collingwood endured an interrupted build-up to the match with coach Nicole Richardson forced to isolate in Melbourne after being a close COVID-19 contact.

Richardson was afforded special dispensation to coach remotely and relay messages via mobile phone to stand-in coach Kate Upton.

Super Netball starts this weekend with a grand final re-match between the Swifts and Giants, and with COVID-19 contingencies, a new broadcast deal and a hard end to the fixture, there's plenty going on.

The Magpies were also without co-captain Ash Brazil, who was a late scratching after suffering concussion at training, but welcomed veteran England defender Geva Mentor, who was cleared after suffering a rolled ankle.

Thunderbirds spearhead Lenize Potgeiter notched her 1,000th career goal and off-season recruit Tippah Dwan made an early impression with a pair of super shots to help turn an early 9-12 Adelaide deficit into a 16-13 quarter-time lead.

Collingwood, piloted by outstanding shooter Shimona Nelson (38 goals), marginally had the better of the middle two terms to limit the Thunderbirds' advantage to 41-38 at three-quarter time.

That was despite the brilliance of Horjus, whose two late super-shots gave Adelaide the momentum at the last change.

The home side responded to a late Collingwood rally with a 5-0, four-minute run to put the visitors away for good.

Potgeiter and Mentor waged a tight