Rosie Harris, Paige Reed, Nia Jones and the players of Leeds Rhinos Netball embarking on important year in Vitality Superleague

The penultimate eve-of-season training session finishes at 11.30 on Wednesday morning and the players of Leeds Rhinos Netball quickly start to disperse back to their day jobs.

Rosie Harris heads across the road to do a few hours at Weetwood as a strength and conditioning coach for younger netball players.

Paige Reed jumps in her car and drives south to her job working at a university in Nottingham.

Millie Sanders is also motorway bound, the M62 drawing her back to her life in Manchester.

Nia Jones, the new captain and a former and current Wales international at football and netball respectively, reviews some of the play in that 90-minute training session before carrying on with her day.

Welcome to the life of a Leeds Rhinos netballer as they embark on their third season in the Vitality Superleague this weekend.

It is a big year for the Rhinos. A third season might not sound much but it is already more than the previous incarnation of a Superleague franchise in these parts was given, Yorkshire Jets lasting just two years before England Netball cited a lack of “commercial stability’’ and inadequate infrastructure when rejecting the Jets’ application to stay in Superleague back in 2016.

Now firmly tucked under the umbrella of rugby league powerhouse Leeds Rhinos, the new team have ticked the commercial and infrastructure boxes.

But there is still a long way to go. This will be the third season in which they will play at multiple venues across Yorkshire, five in total, including one game at first direct Arena in Leeds, a venue where 4,000 people watched them play last year, suggesting the appetite for netball is healthy.

“I did actually go to watch the game at the arena against Manchester Thunder,” says Harris, a 24-year-old wing attack who grew up watching Yorkshire Jets, played for the Rhinos in their first season then took a year out to train as a triathlete before being drawn back to the sport for the 2023 campaign.

“It was so inspiring. I was taken aback by how many people were there.”

Rhinos return to the arena on Sunday, April 16, to take on Saracens Mavericks, but also have eight other home games over the next four months at Leeds Beckett University, the Allam Sports Centre in Hull, the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield and the University of Huddersfield.

“The fans bring the atmosphere so it doesn’t matter where we set up shop,” says Harris.

“As long as we’ve got people behind us it doesn’t matter where we are. For me, 100 per cent it’s a good way to grow the game by taking it to those pockets of Yorkshire that wouldn’t otherwise get to see us.”

The counter argument is that at some stage Leeds Rhinos need to lay down some roots and find a home of their own in the city.

Each year has brought a new coach and a multitude of new players.

Australian Dan Ryan helped build a professional environment and took them to the Superleague play-offs in their first year, but then left to return home after just one season.

Tracey Robinson, another Australian, came in on the eve of the second campaign and was unable to build on that promising start. Big players have come and gone, notably Jade Clarke, the England Roses veteran and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, who came to Leeds to finish her career but will suit up against the Rhinos for London Pulse in the opening day showcase in Nottingham today.

New Zealand playing legend Liana Leota is the new director of rugby, signing a three-year deal that gives her and the club the chance to build something longer-term on the court.

Leota proved a big draw in attracting the likes of new on-court leader Jones and former Severn Stars goal shooter Reed to the Rhinos.

“I bit Liana’s hand off as soon as she asked me to come up with her,” says Reed, a 25-year-old former team-mate of the new coach. “I was ready for a change of environment, a new coach and new surroundings to just push myself.

“Liana is very much about the person, you’re not just an athlete. She’s got a lot of meaning to what she does and there’s a lot of thought that goes into her coaching. She just values everyone. Because she’s picked you, you feel confident that you’ve brought so much into this environment.”

Reed initially came up in a dual role to coach the netball team at Leeds Grammar School. She has since moved to a job in Nottingham, but the link between Leeds Rhinos and the city’s grammar school remains strong, as it does with a number of partnerships the Superleague franchise has with education institutions across the region, such at Leeds Beckett University and Woodhouse Grove.

Harris, who grew up in the city and now helps coach netball as part of her job with the Rhinos then works on the fitness of players in her other role as a strength and conditioning coach, has seen first hand how the sport has grown.

“It’s super important to have a Superleague club in Yorkshire,” says Harris.

“It wasn’t ideal for the sport in this area when there wasn’t a team, so it’s good now that we have this Superleague club for the younger athletes to aspire to.

“I know for a fact that when I went to watch Yorkshire Jets and Leeds Carnegie way back when, that gave me that inspiration. I watched those girls and thought that’s what I want to aim for, that’s what I want to achieve.

“It gives kids that inspiration to achieve. It’s very cool to see that growth because it wasn’t there when I was growing up.

“But there’s a pathway now with what the Rhinos have set up around the region and that’s going to keep building and keep bringing new athletes into the system.

“The sport of netball in the Yorkshire region has grown massively so it’s really cool to be a part of that and be able to inspire kids as well. A huge part of why a lot of the girls do what they do is to inspire the next generation and waving the Rhinos flag is part of that.”

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​The professionalism of netball is ramping up every year, according to two veteran players Leeds Rhinos signed for their third season in Vitality Superleague.

Paige Reed, a 25-year-old goalshooter joined from Severn Stars, while the Rhinos will be captained this year by 30-year-old Nia Jones, who played for Stars and most recently Celtic Dragons.

While neither they or their Rhinos team-mates are fully professional, the standard of the sport has grown exponentially from when they started.

“It’s growing massively,” says Reed. “The physicality, the tactical side of things, the demand in the sport is continuing to grow.

“We’re really pushing for that professionalism.

"Every year the sport is taking a massive step, as a player you’ve got to keep on top of it.”

Jones adds: “Every team gets more professional, every athlete gets more professional, that’s the way the sport’s going and it’s fantastic.

“Those of us that have been around the block a little bit are continuing to get better because the levels of professionalism are getting better.”

Sky Sports continue to support the sport in Britain.

They will show all five games from the opening day extravaganza in Nottingham today, with Leeds Rhinos the fourth game on against London Pulse at 4.15pm.

And Sky announced this week they will broadcast a live game on a Friday night as well as two further games per week on their YouTube channel.

“It’s amazing to have the exposure,” says Reed.

"Netball is continuing to grow in this country and we need to keep getting that recognition and that coverage from Sky.

“It’s all well and good that we have exposure during the Commonwealth Games and the World Cup but in between those really big competitions, how can we make sure we keep getting netball out there and having that Sky deal has been really good for us.”