Leeds Rhinos chief Liana Leota urges Netball England to rethink squad sizes for 2025

Liana Leota has welcomed Leeds Rhinos’ invitation to be a part of English netball’s move towards professionalism but is urging the powers that be to reconsider reducing squad sizes.

Four years after gaining a place in Netball Super League, Leeds Rhinos have been asked to be one of the eight clubs to carry the game forward, which is a real feather in the cap for all involved.

But there are still details of the Netball 2.0 vision that need ironing out before the new-look league commences next February, and according to Leota, things that need revising – specifically the drop in player numbers.

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While welcoming cutting the league from 10 teams to eight as a way of increasing standards, further reducing the player pool by 12 to 10 per squad (for a seven-player game) is a step too far, believes the former New Zealand international, and one she hopes is reconsidered.

Liana Leota, the director of netball at Leeds Rhinos, wants a rethink over squad sizes in 2025 (Picture: Tom Pearson Photography)Liana Leota, the director of netball at Leeds Rhinos, wants a rethink over squad sizes in 2025 (Picture: Tom Pearson Photography)
Liana Leota, the director of netball at Leeds Rhinos, wants a rethink over squad sizes in 2025 (Picture: Tom Pearson Photography)

“Going down to eight teams and giving our players that opportunity to have more money so they can balance an athlete-work lifestyle, instead of having to work full-time, will create huge increases in performances from these athletes,” Leota told The Yorkshire Post.

“But on squad sizes, what they’ve tried to do is focus on what the SSN (Suncorp Super Netball) has got in Australia, but they have got a conveyor belt of players where when someone goes out, someone comes in and you don’t know the difference. We don’t have that luxury.”

In the current format, Super League squads are made up of 12 players - nearly all of whom have other jobs to make a living - plus three training partners.

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As of next season in Netball 2.0, there will be just 10 players per club on more lucrative contracts with the average salary going up by 60 per cent, but as Leeds Rhinos understand it, no provision from the governing body for training partners. For a club that prides itself on developing players from the Yorkshire region, like the Rhinos do, it is already creating a dilemma.

“We have needed to use all 12 of our players this season and it’s important for us to get the likes of Cassie Howard and Harriet Jones out there,” says Leota, inset.

“Annie James is a training partner but has been on our bench the last eight weeks.

“So for me going forward next year it tugs at my heart strings: do I go for experienced players rather than the young ones who are coming through, because with 10 players you need the best. So potentially it’s really tough on our pathway. We as a franchise are now looking at how we can support training partners, because we know we’re going to need them. We’ve used our three all year, they’ve been huge and beneficial.

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“I wish there had been a conversation with the performance heads just to hear our view. Why is this being done? Is it a money issue? Do you just want the best of the best?

“When you look at the bigger picture, the opportunity for netball to sit in a professional era, it can only be good.

“And Leeds being involved gives us a chance to build on that legacy and continue what we’ve started.

“But if we could look at the squad sizes again, that would be a help.”

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