Elle McDonald

Biography

Born in Leigh in Greater Manchester, Elle moved to Australia when she was eight years old. And it was after moving down under, Elle fell in love with the sport.

Whilst she may have adopted a new home growing up, Elle remained true to her roots, attending her first international netball match in school and supporting the visiting team – England.

“I was covered head-to-toe in red and white, I had the face paint and everything, but Australia won very convincingly, so from then I've always been really happy to see England grow and grow.” Source: Women’s Sport Alliance

Elle picked up netball through school but her journey to the elite level was different to many others as she missed out on state teams. But then Elle made it onto the Netball Victoria Pathway where she was eventually afforded the opportunity to play for Victorian Fury in the Australian National League in 2019.

A year later she moved up to the Melbourne Vixens in the Suncorp Super Netball league, starting as a training partner before being elevated to the main squad in 2020. She then switched to the Adelaide Thunderbirds where she spent two seasons before making the decision to return to England and join Leeds Rhinos ahead of the 2023 Netball Super League season.

It was during her time with the Thunderbirds that Elle made herself available to the England programme and in September 2022 she was invited to train with the Vitality Roses and Future Roses.

Following this she was called up to represent the Roses in the Fast5 Netball World Series in New Zealand before then making her Vitality Roses debut in the final game of the Vitality Netball International Series against Jamaica in January 2023.

For many girls like Elle, their first experience of netball comes from our incredible events, hosted at venues across the country. Keep an eye on the England Netball social media channels and see our tickets page to stay informed of our upcoming events.