WASPS Netball’s Rachel Dunn is set to hit a major milestone in the 16th year of her career when facing London Pulse on Saturday.
Dunn will make her 200th bow on a Vitality Netball Superleague court this weekend, 13 years on from the foundation of the league.
The Wasps and England Roses star believes that netball has benefited massively as a whole since the introduction of the Superleague back in 2006.
“Time really has flown by. I remember that first Superleague game, it was a brand new structure and built on the county structure and the Super Cup which came before.
“The league just keeps getting stronger. There’s more international players coming in and there’s a lot of quality coming through from our domestic players too.
“Netball is much more in the public eye now and the excitement levels surrounding the sport is incredible.”
Dunn has won seven titles in all, including the last two campaigns with Wasps, having appeared for Team Bath (2003-2009), Surrey Storm (2009-2017) prior to her recent successes with her current side – which takes her level with Pamela Cookey for the most titles won by a single player.
Wasps’ fixture against the Pulse at the Copper Box Arena brings happy memories for Dunn, having appeared numerous times for her country and winning silverware in her last time trips with Wasps to the venue – winning the Superleague Grand Final and the Fast5 All Stars in July and October of last year.
Dunn spoke of how much she looked forward to step out in the Arena once more with some new team-mates in tow.
“It’s exciting that Pulse are now in the league and based at the Copper Box Arena. It’s a great venue for netball and we’ve had some good times there with Wasps in the last year,” she said.
“We’ve got three new goal attacks now with Katie Harris, Tamsin Moala and Chloe Essam joining, and we’re already building great connections.
“We’re aware that other teams are really strong this year, but like every season we are taking it game-by-game and the first goal is to make the top four.”
The fixture against London Pulse takes place this Saturday (7pm), whilst a first home fixture of the season at the Ricoh Arena against Saracens Mavericks takes place on Monday 11th February (7pm), with tickets being available at www.waspsnetball.co.uk
