Boom recruit Elle McDonald has made a strong early impression on her Bendigo Strikers teammates.
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The former Suncorp Super Netball and English Super League midcourter has been voted as the club’s captain by her peers for the 2026 Victorian Netball League season.
McDonald’s first season for the Strikers will be her first in the state’s premier netball competition since 2019, the same year she won a championship with Victorian Fury and was named in the VNL team of the year.
She joins the Strikers after completing three seasons in the English Super League with Leeds Rhinos and Welsh club Dragons.
The Strikers’ third ever Championship captain, McDonald said she was incredibly proud to be chosen to lead a VNL team still on the rise.
“I feel really honoured … it’s a lovely position to be put into by my peers,” she said.
“Having it team voted make it a bit more special. I feel really supported and can’t wait to get the season underway.
“It’s been short and sweet so far (with the Strikers), but everyone at the club has been so welcoming.
“They have really embraced everyone new to the club and I definitely feel part of the family.”
The Strikers, semi-finalists in their second season in the VNL last year with a 12-6 regular season record and one finals win, will enter the season with one of the most experienced and highly decorated leadership teams in the competition.
Joining McDonald at the helm are vice-captains Kristiana Manu’a and home-grown talent Charlotte Sexton.
Manu’a, who played a handful of Strikers games in 2024, is back after playing one final season - her 11th - at the elite level last year with Sunshine Coast Lightning.
Sexton, originally from BFNL club Sandhurst, is in her second season as an SSN training partner, this season with Melbourne Mavericks.
The 21-year-old is the only player in Striker’s history to have won the club’s best and fairest, claiming back-to-back wins in the club’s first two seasons.
“There are so many natural leaders in the team, even though we have quite a lot of young girls, who have stepped up into Championship for the first time from 23s and people with different experiences,” McDonald said.
“It’s hard to look past Kristiana and Charlotte with their own experiences and knowledge.
“It will be a massive support for me, personally. But it’s more exciting just knowing they are going to be out on court and leading by example with their play and their voices as well.”
Testament to her commitment and dedication, few VNL players, or netballers anywhere in Australia, will clock up as many miles this season than McDonald, who is living in Tongala.
In between games in Melbourne and Bendigo, training with the Strikers and her role with Bendigo South East College’s Athlete Development Program (ADP), McDonald has taken the helm at Seymour as she looks to lead the Lions to A grade glory in the Goulburn Valley League.
It was while playing for Seymour she first came across Strikers head coach Tracey Brereton, then the coach of Shepparton Bears, and in charge of the GV’s interleague team.
Having played interleague under Brereton, McDonald pointed to a deep mutual respect between the pair, making her choice of VNL club a relatively straightforward one
“Tracey is so passionate and obviously has such great netball knowledge,” she said.
“I was really excited to join with her and play under her.
“The team she and the club have put together for the Championship division is really exciting.”
From her perspective, Brereton said the decision to chase McDonald was a ‘no-brainer’.
“It’s pretty amazing to get someone of Elle’s calibre, who has been playing over in the Super League in England, come into your program,” she said.
“She’s a great leader and has great experience.
“There is a bit of change in our team, but it is exciting at the same time, getting to promote players like Shae Clifford and Mia McCrann Peters and pick up another young player in Dayna Williams, who’s played in grand finals at MU (Lightning).
“Getting those players who are still eligible for 23s shows there is a pathway at Strikers and that’s what we want.
“They will learn plenty from the likes of Elle and Kristiana.”
The Strikers will find no bigger stage on which to launch their 2026 season, with their round one clash scheduled as the curtain raiser to Melbourne Mavericks’ season opener against GIANTS at Red Energy Arena on March 14.
While there is a steely resolve to capitalise on last year’s breakout season and take another bold step forward, McDonald insisted the Strikers would not be getting ahead of themselves.
“We haven’t spoken or looked too far ahead at this stage,” she said.
“Tracey and (director of coaching) Carol Cathcart have done a great job instilling confidence within us very slowly.
“We are still consolidating and working on those connections, but definitely amongst the group, there is an unspoken confidence that is really nice to feel and be a part of.
“Round one will be a big game, having lost to Boroondara in a final, so we’ll definitely be looking to put our best foot forward and it would be lovely to come away with a win to start.”