Lily Eldridge returns to Campderdown for 2024

Lily Eldridge, a star goal-shooter who played for the Magpies in 2022, returns to the Hampden league after playing a role in Colac's 2023 Geelong league A grade premiership.

Stephens is thrilled to have the versatile 23-year-old - who has Victorian Netball League experience with Geelong Cougars - re-join the youthful outfit which finished eighth in 2023.

"It's so exciting. It's awesome to have Lily back," she told The Standard.

"We've sort of been talking to her all through the year anyway. Just to have her commit and say yes and come for all the right reasons. She's coming to I guess (a club in) part of a rebuild phase and to play a big key role in that which is exciting for us.

"We're just rapt, she's just full of knowledge and enthusiasm and really going to be brilliant for our junior players as well.

"So she's got a real passion to build young juniors up and provide them with the knowledge that she's been taught really through all her high-level netball. We're hoping that this will be a bit of a ripple effect and who knows? It's exciting to be a part of Camperdown at the moment."

Eldridge will return to Camperdown alongside partner Isaac Stephens, who is fresh off winning a football premiership with Nirranda's senior side in the Warrnambool and District league.

The Magpies coach believes the positive environment at the club drew Eldridge back.

"She'd played with Colac this year and VNL and really loves the competitive netball and loves that side of things but really loves the club atmosphere in Camperdown, has got beautiful friends here and really just missed that social side of things," she said.

Stephens said Eldridge was flexible in where she played and could provide different options when needed.

She hopes the signing of Eldridge and potentially other players, can ensure the club doesn't have to rely on juniors as heavily in open grade next year.

"They'll have their turn in the seniors but ideally we just want to be blooding them through and ideally if we can really inject some high-quality people and keep our local ones, it's exciting," she said.

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