Eleanor Cardwell (Manchester Thunder): The 31-year-old goal shooter is beginning a third spell with Thunder. Expectations are high.
Cardwell was a 2023 World Cup silver medallist with England and has league title medals from the NSL and Australia’s Super Netball.
Her championship season down under came with Adelaide Thunderbirds, before knee trouble spoiled her time at Melbourne Mavericks.
Thunder finished third last season. All eyes are on their fit-again star signing.
Jaz Brown (Leeds Rhinos): Once a promising tennis player, Doncaster-born Brown is now better known for guarding nets than striking forehands over them.
England’s new goal keeper is enjoying being back in Yorkshire after leaving Birmingham Panthers.
Brown, 24, forms part of a new-look Leeds defensive circle, with South African defender Sanmarie Visser another arrival.
“We’re building a good combination,” Brown said after a semi-final Super Cup run.
Gracie Smith (London Pulse): Aged just 16, Smith last year became the youngest ever player on an NSL title-winning team. The Pulse centre did her GCSEs three weeks before the Grand Final.
Already summoned by England A, could Smith, now 17, challenge for senior selection in time for the Commonwealth Games?
She has enjoyed almost non-stop success, so it stung when Pulse were beaten in the Super Cup final.
“I don’t like losing,” she told Sport. “It’s a feeling I don’t want to feel again.”
