Superleague: Team Northumbria target top-four place in new season

Head coach Lisa Stanley-Craig has targeted a top-four place in Superleague for Team Northumbria.

The north east side finished sixth last season, but have signed seven new players, including Australian defender Nic Styles and Scotland Commonwealth Games player Hayley Mulheron.

"Our aim is to get top four," Stanley-Craig told BBC Look North.

"We've got quite a lot of depth in the team, so we've got different combinations for different teams."

Team Bath provide the opposition in Saturday's first game of the new season at Sport Central in Newcastle.

Styles and Mulheron are two of the standout arrivals in Team Northumbria's squad, and will bolster an area of the court that Stanley-Craig believes will be their strength this term.

"Defence is going to be awesome, we've got Leah Kennedy who's a local girl she's come into her own," she added.

"With Scotland international Hayley Mulheron and Nic Styles they're working well together.

"It's going to be difficult to see who actually goes on the court."