The Southern Steel have moved quickly to secure the services of star shooter Jhaniele Fowler-Reid, after the franchise's most successful season in the nine-year history of the ANZ Championships.
The Steel fell short of banking a home semi-final, after losses to the Waikato-BOP Magic and Queensland Firebirds following an unbeaten run through the round-robin series.
The 27-year-old Jamaican set a league record this season, scoring an impressive 779 goals in the trans-Tasman netball league season, at an accuracy rate of over 90 percent.
It's understood the 1.98m-tall shooter had a number of other offers on the table, as the league breaks up into separate New Zealand and Australian competitions again for 2017.
That's a change Fowler-Reid admitted to Newshub recently that she wasn't a big fan of, but she still believes the New Zealand-only league will be an intense top-level competition.
"I would love if it was still the trans-Tasman competition," said Fowler-Reid.
"But it is what it is. I've learnt a lot here in Southland, and I've been able to take home a few tricks to help my country grow in the sports and be just as dominant as New Zealand and Australia."
Next year will be Fowler-Reid's fifth season with the Steel, and she admits she feels very comfortable in the deep south, despite the differences in climate.
"Family is so important to me and I feel like family here.
Everyone looks out for me and wherever I go I feel like I'm home. This is my second home and happy players make good players.
"The good thing is when it's getting really cold here, I'm heading home to summer in Jamaica. But I've acclimatised really well."
The southern franchise will continue with a similar setup in the new ANZ Elite League, and Steel chief executive Lana Winders said she was thrilled to re-sign Fowler-Reid.
"She's one of our first full signings for the new Elite League and provides an incredible platform from which to build the rest of the player roster," Winders said.
The franchise is still to give an update on negotiations with current coach Noeline Taurua, who has received approaches from other teams around New Zealand, as well as from Australia and England.
Newshub.
