Tuesday 18 October 2016 14:04, UK
Manchester Thunder have completed their Superleague squad with the arrival of Dani Bloomfield, Beccy Hoult, Paige Kindred and Sophie Morgan.
New head coach Karen Greig has been busy adding to the line-up for the 2017 Superleague season and Tuesday's announcement takes the playing roster to 12.
Last Friday saw the arrivals of overseas pair Liana Leota and 6ft 11½in Jamaican shooter Marvadene Anderson, and Greig is pleased with confirmation of the final four that she believes will provide her with the perfect balance.
I am really pleased with the squad that we have pulled together.<p>The blend of youth, experience and styles is what I am excited about the most.<p>I really believe over the next four months of pre-season we can solidify and create a tight performance environment which will see us challenging those top four play-off spots.
All four have Superleague experience, Kindred and Hoult stepping up from the NPL squad and England U21 international Kindred has been handed her chance while Hoult is regarded as one of the brightest talents in the country and will benefit from working with Thunder's experienced players.
"It was important to include a young upcoming defender, over the past few years Paige has really matured both on court and off," Greig said.
"She has got herself into s really good position physically and has more than proved herself over the summer. We are looking for Beccy to really link in with Liana [Leota] and learn from the best to enable us to give her as much exposure as possible.
"It will be great to see her use her speed and power to out-do her opponent."
Morgan and Bloomfield return to the Superleague after time away from the sport.
Morgan has played for Celtic Dragons and most recently Surrey Storm, but returns to the Thunderdome having played for the youth team in the past.
Bloomfield is former England U21 international and is back after forging a career in teaching.
"It's great to have Sophie back in the Black and Yellow having represented Thunder as a youngster at NPL level," said Greig.
"Sophie will be sure to add more speed into our already rapid attacking end. Dani is just what we need in a smaller squad of 12 and can offer us solid performance across four positions on the court something which will be invaluable to our mixture of youth and experience."
Coupled with the confirmation of the squad, Greig confirmed that five Thunder U21 players will link-up with the Superleague squad as part of their exposure to top level netball and the new competition they will play in at youth level.
Taylor Cullen, Amy Carter, Abigail Tyrrell, Leia Griffin and Ellie Smith join the set-up, much to the delight of Greig: "All five training partners are eligible for the new U21 competition this season so being pushed each week twice a week in training will hopefully give them the step up and experience they need to transfer into that competition."
Manchester Thunder 2017 Superleague squad - Kerry Almond, Marvadene Anderson, Dani Bloomfield, Amy Clinton, Emma Dovey, Beccy Hoult, Paige Kindred, Liana Leota, Gabriella Marshall, Sophie Morgan, Bea Skingsley, Kathryn Turner.
