Star Australian goaler Kaylia Stanton has joined Hawks Netball, signing on to play with the Victorian Netball League club for the 2022 season.
The 27-year-old goaler, who moved to Melbourne to join the Vixens in 2021, will remain in Victoria next year and continue her career at the Hawks.
An Australian Fast5 representative, Stanton has an impressive and extensive netball resume after making her national league debut with the West Coast Fever in 2016 and playing five years with the WA franchise before making the move to Victoria.
Hawks Netball head coach Guy Keane said securing a player of Stanton’s caliber was a huge coup for the club.
“With a developing group of players that made huge strides last year, Kaylia is the perfect addition to our squad,” Keane said.
“She brings an enormous amount of experience and will be a great fit for the group we have, yet she’s also still young herself and we know there’s more growth to be explored in her game.”
“We anticipate Kaylia playing across both goal shooter and goal attack for us, and forming some great combinations with Tayla Shannon and one of our young stars in Daisy Hill.”
Hawks Netball’s Championship division team finished the COVID-shortened 2021 VNL season in seventh position with three wins from 10 games, with a further two games decided by less than four goals.
“About half of the team was playing their first full season at Championship level, so there is enormous potential there,” Keane said. “Importantly, we’ve retained the majority of our team from 2021, with Kaylia and a couple of other additions providing more strength and depth across the whole squad.”
“It promises to be a very exciting year at Hawks.”