Former Shepparton United netballer Zoe Davies has put pen to paper and signed for English Netball Superleague side Leeds Rhinos for the 2024 season.
In the 2022-23 season, Davies played for Collingwood Magpies in the Suncorp Super Netball for three matches as a training partner.
However, once the club folded, the 26-year-old was made to look elsewhere in order to continue her career.
But not in her wildest dreams did Davies expect her next opportunity to come internationally.
“I just got to a point where I was like, ‘okay, I have a chance here to be paid as a full-time athlete, or I might, if I’m lucky, get a position as a training partner’ (in Suncorp Super Netball),” Davies told Netball Australia.
“In England, their signing date is pretty much a month before SSN even opens. That was the other big thing — you have to choose. You don’t have the opportunity to say, ‘Oh, I’ll just wait for SSN’.
“Picking the Rhinos was a big thing because you’re leaving Australia, and SSN is classified as the best league in the world.
“As a small defender, there weren’t really any openings (in Australia), and I started to feel that and know that. I guess this opportunity came up.”
Originally from Bendigo, Davies started playing netball at under-14 level before making her way through the grades and finding success at Shepparton United in the Goulburn Valley League.
Davies said her decision to move to the United Kingdom was made easier by the fact that former teammate and England native Geva Mentor was heading to the Rhinos for the upcoming season as well.
“The first person I did reach out to was Geva because she’s from England,” she said.
“Speaking with Geva and her letting me know, ‘hey, I’m going back, let’s do it’, gave me that reassurance of okay, like, let’s do it. Let’s go (to Leeds) together.
“Maybe this is that door that’s opening that I’ve just got to take.
“Don’t close it. Let’s just take a step through that door and see what’s on the other side.
“It’s a brand-new team. Some of the girls knew each other, but none of them had been in a core group together, so I think that was quite exciting knowing that we were all new.”
Davies has played three games for the Rhinos this season, while her former GVL club United will play its first game against Echuca on April 6.