ANTRIM Road woman Niamh Cooper will have a familiar face from home alongside her in the squad when Surrey Storm get their British SuperLeague campaign underway this Saturday.
The 28-year-old has been joined on the Storm roster for the 2021 season by Northern Ireland team-mate Emma Magee, a product of the Westside club in West Belfast who also plays inter-county Gaelic football for Antrim.
Magee, whose younger sister Michelle has been signed by SuperLeague newcomers Leeds Rhinos, made her big breakthrough at the 2019 World Cup in Liverpool, where she was a real success story in spite of arriving at the tournament as an unknown rookie.
Then just 21, the powerful forward finished as Northern Ireland’s top goal-scorer in the World Cup and accumulated the second most minutes on court of any player in Dan Ryan’s Warriors squad of 12.
Now she has been handed a golden opportunity to establish herself in the northern hemisphere’s leading netball competition and help sleeping giants Storm push hard for fresh honours.
Having hospital doctor Cooper there to show her the ropes will have been beneficial for newcomer Magee, who will be battling with Francesca Wells and Ellen Kelk to partner towering Aussie veteran Karyn Bailey in the shooting circle.
Niamh had brief flirtations with SuperLeague previously via the now defunct Team Northumbria and then Loughborough Lightning when she was studying at the local university before focusing on her medical career.
She signed for Surrey Storm in the autumn of 2019 on the back of her own World Cup performances and was really looking forward to last season, but it proved to be a drastically truncated campaign.
The coronavirus shutdown came in mid-March after just four rounds of fixtures, the last of which saw Cooper face fellow doctor Caroline O’Hanlon, her Northern Ireland captain, and champions Manchester Thunder.
Although the 2020 SuperLeague was subsequently declared null and void, the few weeks of action had whetted the ferociously competitive Cooper’s appetite and she will be bursting to get back on court.
Cooper, who has worn the green dress at two Commonwealth Games, says she had no hesitation about committing to a second season in Surrey and Storm’s player-coach Mikki Austin makes clear the feeling was mutual.
Niamh Cooper
“I’m really excited to have re-signed with Surrey Storm for 2021. I loved every minute of the early part of last season before the pandemic came so, providing they wanted me, it was a no-brainer to go back,” explains Niamh.
“There is some really exciting talent being brought into the playing group for this season following the retirement of some of our more experienced campaigners and I can’t wait to see how we go over the coming months.
“Our ambition is to push hard for a top-four finish this season – we showed glimpses last year of what we can achieve and now we’re working hard to prove we can match our rivals on a consistent basis.
“It’s great to have my international team-mate Emma Magee at Storm this season, she’s not just a friendly face from home but showed what a talent she is at the 2019 World Cup so it will be exciting to see how she goes.”
In announcing that she had signed a new contract, Storm not only referenced Cooper’s international experience with more than 50 senior caps for Northern Ireland but how she had emerged as a ‘figurehead’ in their team last spring.
“Niamh is a fantastic athlete and such a workhorse, which is critical in that wing defence position. She had a real impact in her first season with Surrey Storm, so we are thrilled to be extending her contract here,” said Director of Netball Austin.
Austin operates in a player-coach capacity for Storm and the dynamic centre is likely to be flanked by Cooper and wing attack Yasmin Parsons, an English international, in the mid-court trio.
If Cooper nails down the wing back berth, one of the starting spots in the defensive circle is set to be occupied by newly-recruited Zimbabwe captain Felisitus Kwangwa with Aussie Leah Middleton and Scotland’s Lauren Tait contesting the goalkeeper position.
Storm meet local rivals London Pulse this Saturday (2pm) in their opening game of a campaign in which every match will either be televised live by Sky Sports or broadcast on their YouTube channel.
Matches will be behind closed doors for the foreseeable future and, instead of teams playing home and away, all fixtures for the first part of the season will take place at one venue, in Wakefield, before the competition moves to London Olympics venue, the Copper Box.
Although teams can’t bubble as such, with their mix of full and part-time players, there will be regular testing for Covid-19 and another concession to the pandemic is that 2021 SuperLeague games are to feature 12-minute quarters instead of the usual periods of 15.
Cooper flanked by Michelle Magee (left, who has signed for Leeds Rhinos) and Emma Magee who will join her at Surrey Storm
One silver lining of the pandemic is that, with Sedbergh School where she works being currently closed, Emma Magee has been able to base herself in Surrey rather than facing the long commute from Cumbria.
There is a possibility Emma may find herself facing sister Michelle on court on Sunday week when Storm tackle Rhinos, as she is a forward and the younger Magee a defender for the Yorkshire franchise.
Australian Dan Ryan, who doubles up as Northern Ireland head coach, is the Rhinos supremo and, as well as giving Michelle Magee her first SuperLeague contract, he has signed Fionnuala Toner from Team Bath and made her co-captain.
Dublin-based Malone Road native Toner is Northern Ireland vice-captain and she will share the official leadership role for Rhinos this season with England’s most capped player of all time, Jade Clarke.
Ryan’s marquee signing, Australian great Madison Browne, has been ruled out for the season by injury but her huge compatriot Donnell Wallam, a relatively recent convert from basketball, will hopefully prove a shooting sensation.
Michelle Magee, who has rejoined Westside after a spell with NI Premier League outfit Kingsway, will be fighting for game-time in the back circle behind Toner and Clarke with Kiwi Tuaine Keenan, current English international Vicki Oyesola and Paige Kindred.
Newcomers Rhinos have been given the honour of featuring in the opening game of the 2021 SuperLeague, against Welsh franchise Celtic Dragons (Fri, 5.15pm, Sky Sports), before champions Manchester Thunder take on Scotland’s Strathclyde Sirens (7.15pm).
Armagh Gaelic football great O’Hanlon will be starting her fourth season as first choice centre for Thunder, while Storm’s opponents Pulse will feature Cooper and Emma Magee’s international team-mate Michelle Drayne.
