Manchester Thunder vice-captain Josie Huckle has told Sky Sports she is looking to “cause some chaos” as she eyes Netball Super League gold.
Huckle, who plays as a goal keeper, is into her third season with Thunder having joined following the demise of Wasps, but is yet to clinch a Super League title with the club, despite both she and Thunder possessing four titles each already.
Her first season in Manchester in 2023 saw the club finish third in the standings and lose to Loughborough Lightning in the semi-finals 65-59, while last season Thunder suffered defeat to Lightning in the final.
“I keep saying I’ve I won a bronze my first year, I won silver my second year. It’s my third year there, I’m hoping I’m going to go for gold this year,” Huckle says.
“I mean, having the likes of Karen Greig (director of netball and head coach), Gabrielle Towell (assistant coach), Laura Malcolm (assistant coach) as your coaching team, you’re going to be doing some good stuff, and they give me a lot of freedom, a lot of license to kind of run on some stuff now.
“I think actually, you can’t win a one-on-one ball that much anymore, because you’ve got some big, big shooters. So actually being off the body and kind of creating some chaos – I’ve got some very long limbs in there, so being able to cause chaos is what looking forward to.”
The 33-year-old adds she is far from finished in the sport, and labelled the improvement in the standard of the Netball Super League as “massive”.
“Absolutely not [finished yet]. I’m hoping I’ve got a couple more years under my belt. I’ve been lucky to be in some pretty decent teams and to win four big titles,” she added.
“[Netball Super League has improved] Massively, I think especially with the impact of our imports, we’ve had coming in, we’ve had some really amazing players come across the pond and join us.
“The games, definitely, are getting fiercer, and I’m absolutely loving it still.
“Being able to come out and go hunting and kind of cause some chaos is definitely what I’ve been looking at working on. And hopefully I’m going to keep bringing into the season.”
Thunder sit second in the standings and face table-toppers London Pulse on Friday.
It may be early days in the season, but Huckle says the squad have their sights set on a statement victory.
“Absolutely, we’re really looking forward to this big challenge,” she said.
“I think we saw that Super Cup [London Pulse won], but that could be anyone’s game.
“They’ve got the England defensive unit, so we’re looking at kind of ripping them up, seeing what we can do, and hoping we can produce some good netball.”
Watch Netball Super League matches through the season live on Sky Sports
