How Eleanor Cardwell’s Super Netball defection from Thunderbirds to Mavericks really happened

That conversation came later between the departing Adelaide Thunderbirds assistant coach and the club’s star shooter, the English pair having been key contributors to the T-birds’ first premiership in a decade, with Cardwell the grand final MVP in that overtime thriller against the NSW Swifts in July.

Yet as inevitable as the Melbourne reunion always seemed, there was still a lot to think about for the feisty Manchester Thunder product, who had enjoyed a wildly successful debut Super Netball season and been happy to stay in Adelaide had Neville not been poached to head the start-up franchise.

“That was a huge consideration. Obviously last year everyone was banging on that I followed Tracey to Adelaide, which obviously was a lie — she followed me,’’ Cardwell tells CODE Sports with a laugh.

“But this time it isn’t like I followed her; I just truly believe she is, like, the best coach in the world. And I’ve obviously had her for so long and I’ve got such a good connection with her, and if I didn’t think she was up to the job there’s no way I would be here.

“I’ve been coached by her now for 12 years and I’m still learning stuff … and that was the biggest factor to me. Yes, I’m 29, but I still want to keep learning. I still want to progress through netball. I still want to push, see how far I can go.

“I didn’t think I was gonna leave Adelaide at the end of the season. Like, there was no way. I was adamant I was gonna stay. I loved the girls. I loved the environment. But when I really had to sit down and think about it I was like, ‘OK, Tracey is gonna keep building me and she knows how to push me, and how to get more stuff out of me’.’’

Yet while Cardwell is also convinced that no one is better-equipped than Neville to create a new program in which players drawn from seven different clubs – including the now-defunct Magpies – would thrive, there were still positives and negatives to consider. It was “a bit of a process to come to the decision’’ to leave, she says.

“Obviously I’d settled quite a bit in Adelaide and Tania (Obst, the head coach) knew how settled I was, and they’d created a really good environment for me and I’d built a bit of a life in Adelaide, and I just loved Adelaide as a place and as a club, so it was really, really hard.

“The biggest thing for me was, ‘I love a challenge’. The first challenge for me was to come over to Australia. Obviously that went OK, went all right - like, won the premiership - and this is now a new challenge of creating a new club and trying to create a different style of netball.

“I’m always looking at the next thing that can push me and this is certainly the next thing.’’

*****

Flag-winning hero or departing villain? Traitor even? Social media flagged the latter recently. Surprise, surprise.

“Seeing it, to be honest with you, just makes me laugh,’’ says Cardwell, who believes Manchester had far greater cause to use the label — but didn’t — after her decade spent at the Thunder ended with a flag in 2022.

“For me, I’m more of a traitor to them because they’re like my family, and they have been with me through a lot of hard times in the past and got me through a lot, and they want me to excel and want me to push myself and do the best thing for me.

“People can have their opinion, whatever. I wouldn’t say I’m a traitor. I would just say that this is sport and all sorts happen in sport. You’ve just got to look at it individually and be like, ‘That must be the best move for them’. And if it works out, great, and if it doesn’t, oh well, you move on, you try and work somethin’ else out.’’

Season one was a triumph in every sense. Cardwell was the sixth-highest scorer in SSN with 560 points playing across GS and GA, capped by 36 goals at 92 per cent and the decisive two-pointer among five nailed in the grand final at John Cain Arena.

The stadium she’ll now call home.

A sturdy 186cm, Cardwell is vocal, passionate and exuberant. Believes she brings leadership, confidence and experience to the group, heading into her 13th national league season. A defender who became a shooter at Neville’s behest has seen the sport from every angle, including internationally, while graduating from the bench to the frontline.

Not one to overcomplicate things, though, Cardwell eventually summarises her value as constant communication and “a good voice in the back”, before adding: “And just someone who can just shoot goals, to be honest!’’

The grand final showcased both key qualities, including an intense exhortation in the Thunderbirds’ huddle late in regular time, as the joint vice-captain implored her teammates: “Do the f--king hard work. We look at each other and we give each other f--king ball!’’

Hailed by Obst for the character and belief she brought to the group, Cardwell is perhaps a little like the boisterous former defender Sharni Norder, in that what is often irritating to opposition sides is so highly valued by her own.

“I’m so glad that she’s on my team this year,’’ says Mavs midcourter Tayla Fraser of the player the ex-Swift describes as an incessant ball of energy.

“When she walks in in the morning, she’s the first one to do something funny to make us laugh, or whether it’s on court and something’s not going right, she’s really really good for just bringing netball back to being fun.

“Obviously we train so much, we overthink a lot and she’s just like, ‘We’re catching and passing, we’re catching and passing. We’re putting it through a hoop. It’s not that hard.’ She’s been really great and I’m loving getting to play with and just learning from her as well.’’

Or in the words of assistant Mavericks and Diamonds coach Nicole Richardson: “She’s a really big personality. She’s vibrant. She has that intensity about herself. She’s very positive and engaging with the group as well.

“I’ve obviously prior to Mavericks only ever coached against El, and you always have differing opinions of players when you coach against them versus coaching them. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time working with El in the environment to date.’’

*****

Cardwell’s importance has been further elevated by the devastating injury to her shooting partner and England Roses teammate Sasha Glasgow, who broke her lower leg during a practice match against the Sunshine Coast Lightning last month.

“To be honest with you, it was pretty traumatic,’’ Cardwell recalls. “I really feel for Sash, and for the whole team. For everyone. I feel an awful lot for the coaches; it’s not been plain sailing, this whole experience, I feel like there’s been one thing after another after another, and this is another big blow.’’

Frustrations have included visa-related delays to Neville’s arrival and the drawn-out Collective Player Agreement negotiations, with the new franchise more impacted than existing teams by the postponement of pre-season training and then the Nations Cup in January.

“Sash’s been an absolute trooper and it’s been hard for her, but we’ve all got her back … We are gutted, and we created this lovely style of netball in the shooting circle, so it’s just how we adjust now and try and get the right person in to fill that spot, and try and push on.’’

Training partner and ex-Pie Shimona Nelson is a strong contender, if not necessarily ideal in a positional sense, and the Nelson-Cardwell combination was among those used in a weekend trial game. Gabby Sinclair completes the shooting roster after returning from a season in England, following her delisting from Collingwood.

The element of surprise is one that Cardwell believes will work to the Mavs’ advantage — “no one knows what we look like, no one knows what we’re gonna bring, so I think we have that in our locker’’ — even as she acknowledges the pros and cons of entering her own second season in the world’s best league.

Knowing more, while also being far better known by rivals.

“Obviously before last year, you always have a bit of doubt that, ‘Oh, is it a big step up? What’s it gonna be like?’ But I now know I can do it. I know that I can perform at this stage. And it’s now trying to keep pushing on, not staying at this level, trying to add more things to my game,’’ Cardwell says.

“So now the defenders have felt me and how I play and how my style is, it’s what I can do to combat what they think they know about me and try and add new things. It’s exciting.’’

Less welcome was the giant huntsman spider in the corner of the players’ room at Waverley, which caused Cardwell her greatest anxiety so far. You don’t find so many of those back in Wigan, where the arachnophobe owns a home with her electrician partner Tom, who is due to arrive in Australia soon. So too her sister Elzabeth, for an extended stay.

Meantime, preparations continue for the April 14 opener against the establishment Melbourne Vixens; the Blackpool native’s first experience of a true intra-city derby, with Adelaide a one-team town and the closest UK equivalent for Cardwell Manchester’s rivalry with Leeds Rhinos in the duel of the north.

“It’s gonna be wild!’’ enthuses a player who sees herself as part-athlete and part-ambassador for the league’s newest club. And just generally.

“I think we’re hitting different people in Melbourne and hopefully trying to get some of those Vixens fans to get a Mavs T-shirt on and come over to our side.

“It’s a completely new club, completely fresh start, and having so many individuals with great personalities and a flair in their style of netball can, I think, bring in a lot of fans.’’

*****

When Cardwell gave Neville her answer, it came a week later than the coach had hoped. “It was a really hard decision, so I actually had to take my time; I wasn’t gonna just sign with her willy nilly,’’ insists the 2023 World Cup silver medallist.

The pair was holding a coaching clinic back home when Cardwell mentioned casually that she thought that, yes, she would indeed sign-on with the then no-name start-up club destined to be based in Melbourne’s south-east.

“Tracey was like, ‘Don’t say that to me, don’t say that to me!’, cos she was, like, scared that something was gonna happen and, I don’t know, I might change my mind. She was like, ‘Just wait, don’t get my hopes up’.’’

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Still, the partnership that was at short odds to continue ultimately has. And if a new training drill unveiled last week - which had fellow Mavs looking inquiringly in Cardwell’s direction - was an example of the surprises still in store, then one of Neville’s most devoted disciples has unshakeable faith in the coach’s philosophy and methods.

“I know Tracey and I have complete and utter trust in her, and I know what style of netball she wants and what excites her,’’ Cardwell says.

“It’s not gonna be boring netball. It’s just exciting, to be honest with you, and it’s very versatile. Everyone can play a lot of positions, so you never know what’s gonna happen.’’