Netball Super League | How Leeds Rhinos starlet Harriet Jones swapped watching her heroes to playing alongside them

Image: Craig Cresswell

All 288 pages of Geva Mentor’s autobiography Leap sit neatly on the bookshelf of Harriet Jones – the netball-adoring teen turned NSL starlet who has taken the league by storm.

But Jones no longer needs to turn to its pages for advice from a legend of the game, with the goal attack now lining up alongside her hero for Leeds Rhinos this season.

The 19-year-old moved from Manchester Thunder to Rhinos ahead of the season in search of more game time to compliment the rapid advancement of her netball.

The Wirral-born attacker understood the decision to move across the Pennines was a risk but taking to court in a blue and yellow dress is already paying dividends.

She said: “To be playing with players like Geva and Joyce [Mvula], it’s such a full-circle moment going from watching them on TV to now playing with them.

“It’s surreal, I read her book when I was younger and when Liana told me she was going to be joining the squad, I looked at my mum in disbelief.

“I said, ‘As if I’m going to be playing with Geva!’ She’s so lovely and just the best leader to have in our team as captain, it’s a great feeling.

“I know her journey is really inspirational, I know we’re not the same position but it doesn’t matter, she’s still done that whole process and she’s someone that I really look up to.”

Harriet Jones has gone from fan to teammate

Jones, who only completed her A-Levels last summer, travels more than two hours each way to make training with Rhinos but is already feeling sure that her commitment is paying off.

Her rise is nothing short of magnificent, climbing up club the ranks from Chester NC to the esteemed Oldham in the fiercely competitive hotbed of netball that is the North West, while complementing her development on the Thunder Pathway.

Jones met now-coach Leota on a Future Roses camp and has been taken under the wing of her elders as Rhinos look to build upon their first win of the season, a 73-34 win over Strathclyde Sirens.

She said: “Liana was a massive draw and she’s got such a huge vision for Leeds.

“That was a big pull for me, it’s not just this year, she’s got a plan in place for a few years.

“She’s so approachable, she’s the mum figure who I can go to about anything netball and non-netball related.

“She’s given me this opportunity and put a lot of trust in me regardless of my age so it’s great that she’s pushing the youth.”

For the past two seasons, Jones has been a training partner with Thunder and insists success, in the form of two NSL titles in half a decade, bled into the Pathway’s winning mentality.

An instantaneous telepathic partnership has been wielded in the circle between Jones and Joyce Mvula, and the youngster may be inclined to look towards their Manchester roots as to why.

Mvula was the league’s second highest goalscorer as Thunder romped to the 2022 title undefeated and has already racked up 137 goals this year upon her return to British shores, in partnership for most of that time with Jones.

She said: “I really wasn’t expecting to get the starts, that’s Liana putting the trust in me and I trust myself 100%.

“Joyce and I are really clicking, over the few rounds that we’ve played we’re just getting better and better as a team, not just us two.

“Joyce is so funny, she takes no messing which I love and she tells it straight how it is.

“Especially because of the age gap, she’s really taken me under her wing and looks after me.

“On court, she’s always tapping in with me and checking I’m okay, it’s so nice to have that experience by your side.”

Joyous from Jones 🪄@RhinosNetballSL youngster Harriet Jones is making it happen out there as her side launch a fightback 💪

Watch live on @SkySports YouTube 📺#SeeUsNow | #NSL2024 pic.twitter.com/oChpyFZuM9

— Netball Super League (@NetballSL) February 24, 2024

Jones is under no illusions how much it will take to maintain her regular spot in the Netball Super League but has the confidence to back herself on her journey.

“I’ve been so lucky to get this experience in the league already and I just want to continue doing what I’m doing, getting people talking about me and showing people what I can do.

“For the team, we haven’t shown people what we’re capable of with our start, we did that with such a margin against Sirens.

“There’s nothing stopping us now, we’re such a new group and I’ve hardly played with any of the girls before.

“We need to accept that we’re different to Thunder, Pulse and Lightning because they’ve been building for a good few years.

“The combinations are clicking and I’m confident we are going to start getting those wins more.”

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