Strong fancy netting required after close of play (8)
I believe the answer is:
yearning
'strong fancy' is the definition.
(fancy can mean a desire for something)
'netting required after close of play' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'netting' could be 'earning' (both can mean making money) and 'earning' is found in the answer.
'close of play' could be 'y' (closing letter of the word 'play') and 'y' is located in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for yearning that I've seen before include "Yen" , "Longing, pining" , "Craving" , "Feeing great desire" , "Hankering, longing" .)