Leeds Rhinos Netball off to a brilliant start to Vitality Superleague life with a crushing victory over Celtic Dragons

Leeds Rhinos marked their first game in the Vitality Netball Superleague with a resounding victory over the long-established Celtic Dragons last night.

Head coach Dan Ryan had called on the first players to represent Yorkshire in the top tier of English netball for half a decade to do so with pride, and that was the bare minimum of what his players gave him.

The mix of youthful promise and international experience Ryan has assembled for the Rhinos’ maiden season produced a dominant performance to claim a 65-35 victory.

Ryan had been cautious in his tone in the protracted build-up to their first competitive action, mindful not to place too much expectation on what is very much an unknown quantity.

But he, and the many people who have worked to bring professional netball back to the White Rose county must have been heartened by what they saw.

Leeds Rhinos Netball were born four years ago in the aftermath of the sudden demise of the Yorkshire Jets who saw their Superleague licence revoked.

The club’s small staff were left devastated, but determined not to let professional netball in Yorkshire die.

They sought to rebuild the project from the ground up, aligning with the professional infrastructure at Leeds Rhinos rugby league club to create a symbiotic partnership that put together a more professional framework and pathway for inclusion in Vitality Superleague.

Their hard work was vindicated a little over 18 months ago when they were granted status in Superleague, and last night saw the fruition of all their hard work.

The only sadness was there was no one there to see it.

The coronavirus pandemic which first wiped out the 2020 season after only a few games 11 months ago, has forced the 2021 campaign to be played behind closed doors.

The second half of the season is being played at the Copper Box Arena in London, but the first nine rounds are being contested right here in Yorkshire, in another nod to the sudden return to prominence of the Broad Acres on the netball landscape.

Studio 001 in Wakefield is the venue, a biosecure bubble where all 11 teams will play the first tranche of fixtures.

It will not have been what the Rhinos had hoped for as a grand entrance when their Superleague status was confirmed.

Indeed, the task they have off the court is as hard as the one on it, building a club from scratch and generating a fanbase when you have little idea how many people are engaged.

No tickets to sell for games; no fan rallies; no meet-the-player sessions.

Everything done on social media – which as a barometer isn’t bad, Rhinos player Rosie Harris revealing to the YEP last week that they had 1,000 followers on Instagram within hours of launching the page.

In short, Leeds Rhinos do not yet know and will not know for some time, just how many people they are attracting to the sport and how many fans they are creating.

So for now they will have to make do with the fake crowd noise in the production arena in Wakefield to inspire them on their journey.

That and the knowledge that the whole netball community in Yorkshire is right behind them.

As first impressions go, any pyrotechnics that were missing off the court were made up for by the Leeds side’s professionalism on it.

“We know a lot of people back home haven’t been able to play netball,” said Jade Clarke, England Roses’ most capped player and one of Rhinos’ marquee signings.

“So we just wanted to go out there and enjoy it and make people happy.”

They certainly did that.

“We really enjoyed that, our mission was to come out and have a good time,” said Ryan. “And I loved seeing the players’ smiling faces.

“The bonus is to win by 30 points, but they loved it so I loved it.

“It was a really special day.

“I’ll learn a lot about the team from today and they’ll learn a lot about themselves.

“We’re a massive work in progress, there’s huge room for improvement but pleasing we can start our history with a win on the board.”

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