Netball Super League 2026: schedule, new kits, fixtures, teams, BBC coverage, Super Cup, players to watch

Eleanor Cardwell (Manchester Thunder): The 31-year-old shooter is starting his third stint with the Thunder. Expectations are high.

Cardwell was a 2023 World Cup silver medalist with England and has collected NSL and Australian Super Netball league title medals.

Her championship season came with the Adelaide Thunderbirds, before a knee problem blighted her time with the Melbourne Mavericks.

The Thunder finished third last season. All eyes are on the signing of the right star once again.

Jazz Brown (Leeds Rhinos): Brown, who was born in Doncaster, was once a promising tennis player, and was now known for guarding the net rather than hitting it with a forehand.

The new England goalkeeper is enjoying a return to Yorkshire after leaving Birmingham Panthers.

Brown, 24, forms part of Leeds’ new-look defensive circle, with the arrival of South Africa defender Sanmarie Visser.

“We are building a good combination,” Brown said after the Super Cup semi-final.

Gracie Smith (London Pulse): Smith, just 16 years old, last year became the youngest player ever on a team to win an NFL title. The Pulse Center held the GCSE exams three weeks before the grand final.

Already called up by England A, can Smith, now 17, challenge for first choice in time for the Commonwealth Games?

They had almost constant success, so it was a shock when Pulse lost in the Super Cup final.

“I don’t like losing,” she told BBC Sport. “It’s a feeling I never want to feel again.”