Vitality Roses confirmed for 2025-26 programme

England Netball has announced the 24 athletes who have been selected for the Vitality Roses programme for the 2025-26 international season.

Vitality Roses Head Coach Jess Thirlby has announced the names of the 24 players who will be part of the Vitality Roses programme for 2025-26.

As the Vitality Roses programme enters its tenth year, it welcomes four new athletes to the full-time programme, all of whom have been elevated from the Future Roses programme, and also welcomes two players back to the full-time programme after a year away in 2024-25.

Of the 24 athletes selected, 19 are based in the UK playing in the Netball Super League (NSL) and NXT Gen league and the remaining five play domestic netball in the Suncorp Super Netball league in Australia.

Vitality Roses programme:

The announcement sees Sasha Glasgow and Halimat Adio return after a year’s break from the full-time programme and Jas Brown, Emma Rayner, Anya Williams and Yomi Wilson enter the programme for the first time, all being elevated from the Future Roses programme.

Tash Pavelin, Lois Pearson and Paige Reed, who entered the Vitality Roses programme for 2024-25, all remain for their second consecutive year in the programme. Meanwhile, Nat Metcalf and Eleanor Cardwell, who were both part of the silver-medal winning Netball World Cup squad in 2023, both enter their tenth consecutive year on the programme. After the birth of her daughter in May 2025, Metcalf will continue on the Vitality Roses programme as she navigates her journey back to court.

Vitality Roses Head Coach Jess Thirlby commented: “We have selected an exciting and tactically diverse group of athletes for the Vitality Roses programme this year that I am looking forward to working with them all as we head towards the much-anticipated Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 2026 and beyond to the Netball World Cup in Sydney in 2027.

“As always, it has been a welcome challenge to identity those athletes we feel will help move us closer to winning World Cup gold over the course of the next two years given the strength in talent our eligible athletes have displayed in the relaunched Netball Super League and overseas in the Suncorp Super Netball league. There is a healthy balance of returning athletes, with all the experience they have now accumulated, who have enjoyed some standout performances on the international stage in recent seasons, as well as those who have shown up and consistently performed in their respective domestic competitions.

“The improved depth in quality amongst the Roses on programme has helped raise the standard of our squad and the training environment over the last few years and our recent successes internationally have provided us with critical insights upon which to base our selection. Our job is to benchmark what we see against the demands of what we know international netball asks of us and ensure we have a cohort that will physically, technically, tactically and psychologically push each other and, in turn, best prepare us to be ‘Games ready’ by Glasgow 2026. We now turn our attention to fully raising the bar and elevating our performance levels with this group and look forward to an exciting international window.”

The Vitality Roses programme runs over 12 months and consists of UK-based training camps and competitive opportunities at home and overseas, as well as in-club support for the players during the domestic seasons. Players have been selected following a rigorous process that sees all of their domestic and international performances assessed by the team of England Netball assessors. Any players not selected in this squad for the full-time programme are still eligible for selection for competition.

The Vitality Roses programme is underpinned by the Future Roses programme, designed to develop the next generation of Roses through exposure to high-level training and international match play experience. A further 18 athletes have been selected for this programme, creating an exciting mix of athletes who have enjoyed successful seasons across the Netball Performance League (NPL), NXT Gen League and those who are breaking through into the NSL.  

Future Roses programme:

Sonia Mkoloma, Roses Pathway Head Coach, commented on the selection, saying: “As always, I am thrilled about the talented players we have selected for the Future Roses programme and truly look forward to working with them as they continue their journeys of growth.”

Featuring athletes from the Vitality Roses, Future Roses, the Roses Academy and NXT Gen league, the Under 21 training squad has also been revealed in preparation for the Netball World Youth Cup that will take place in Gibraltar in September 2025.

Netball World Youth Cup training squad: 

Sonia Mkoloma, Roses Pathway Head Coach, said: “We're excited to have selected the training squad for the Netball World Youth Cup, which has brought together the top athletes in the Under 21 age group. For many, this marks their first opportunity to compete for a place to represent England on the world stage, and I’m looking forward to working with them as they take this next step in their journey.” 

England Netball Performance Director, David Parsons said: “With just over a year to go before the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and two years before the next Netball World Cup in Australia, we are entering an exciting phase of the international calendar and I’d like to congratulate all of those athletes selected for the Roses programme for the next 12 months. The combination of training and competition that they will be exposed to presents them with a great opportunity to progress as individuals and as part of the squad, with the support of Jess and the team. The squad we’ve named features a healthy balance of experienced athletes who have already achieved so much, athletes that have helped the squad successfully transition over the past couple of years, and young athletes in the very early stages of their international careers.

“In recent years, the Future Roses programme has provided development opportunities to a number of athletes who now find themselves in the Vitality Roses programme, including Anya, Emma, Jasmine and Yomi who have all been called into the senior squad this year. We congratulate them and all of those selected for the Future Roses and look forward to supporting their progress.  

“A number of the athletes selected for the Vitality Roses and Future Roses are still eligible for the Under 21s, and we are excited by the talent in the squad that have already begun their preparation for this year’s Netball World Youth Cup in Gibraltar.”

The 2025 Netball World Youth Cup will take place in Gibraltar between 19-28 September. Further information on upcoming fixtures for the Vitality Roses will be announced in due course.

To keep up with the latest news about the Vitality Roses, make sure to follow @EnglandNetball on X, Instagram and TikTok, and England Netball on Facebook and LinkedIn.

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