Latest news with #PreliminaryFinal
South Wales Argus
29-06-2025
- Sport
- South Wales Argus
Smith aiming to stop former team as Thunder target Final
The South African won the Netball Super League with Lightning last season, marking a statement debut campaign in England. Smith made a summer switch to Manchester Thunder and now faces her old side in this season's Preliminary Final, with a place in the Grand Final against London Pulse on the line when they meet on Sunday. But the defender insists she doesn't have the inside scoop on her opponents and knows a typically tough game is in the offing. 'It's not going to be an easy game. We've been training really hard, and I am excited to see what is going to happen,' she said. 'When I come up against Loughborough, I have treated it as just another game, it's just another team. 'Loughborough are doing things differently this year so I can't go back on what I knew from last year; I don't have any inside information.' Smith's transition from one high-flying franchise to another has not been without its difficulties. The South African started the season injured after breaking her arm playing for her country in January. She subsequently missed the entirety of pre-season and made her return to court with the league already in full swing. "When we found out the Grand Final was at @TheO2 Arena, it gave us that extra bit of fight." 💗 🏟️ @Pulse_Netball captain @ZaraJaelE talks about what it means to have the opportunity to play at the 2025 Grand Final in her 'home' city on Sunday 6 July. Buy your tickets now ⬇️ — Netball Super League (@NetballSL) June 22, 2025 Smith proved to be the least of Thunder's injury problems, with shooters Lois Pearson and Paige Reed both missing the majority of the season through hamstring and foot injuries respectively. It has meant there have been rocky moments at times in Smith's debut season in the yellow dress, as Thunder got to grips with an ever-changing cast of temporary replacements and NXT Gen players. But with their full squad now available to them for the play-off campaign, Smith hopes it will play in their favour having shown little of their hand to their opponents earlier in the campaign. 'A move is never easy to make. At the start of the season, I had an injury so I didn't have any pre-season games and my first game was in the league,' reflected Smith. 'We have had a lot of injuries, particularly losing our shooters but we were able to get through the season. It's something we can be really proud of, hopefully this weekend we show what we can do as a team. 'Having your full team at the end of the season is hopefully great timing. It's really nice having everyone back, it is a real boost. I think it is an advantage for us because there won't be a lot of footage available of our full team.' Thunder travel to Lightning off the back of victory over London Mavericks in the minor semi-final, having secured third place in the regular season table. Manchester Thunder are yet to beat Loughborough Lightning in the NSL this season (Image: Ben Lumley) Victory will punch their ticket to the O2 Arena on Sunday 6 July, where they will face London Pulse in the first Grand Final held at the iconic venue. A win there would seal back-to-back Super League titles for Smith, joining an elite club of players to win consecutive titles with different clubs, but she knows it will be no easy feat. 'It was a privilege coming to the league last year and having the opportunity to playing in the final and win,' she said. 'It's not an easy thing to do, it's not a given. 'Not being from this country, I didn't actually know how big the O2 was. I had to ask the girls 'is it really that big?' 'I am really excited to go there, it is a bigger venue than last year and the atmosphere is going to be great.'
South Wales Guardian
29-06-2025
- Sport
- South Wales Guardian
Smith aiming to stop former team as Thunder target Final
The South African won the Netball Super League with Lightning last season, marking a statement debut campaign in England. Smith made a summer switch to Manchester Thunder and now faces her old side in this season's Preliminary Final, with a place in the Grand Final against London Pulse on the line when they meet on Sunday. But the defender insists she doesn't have the inside scoop on her opponents and knows a typically tough game is in the offing. 'It's not going to be an easy game. We've been training really hard, and I am excited to see what is going to happen,' she said. 'When I come up against Loughborough, I have treated it as just another game, it's just another team. 'Loughborough are doing things differently this year so I can't go back on what I knew from last year; I don't have any inside information.' Smith's transition from one high-flying franchise to another has not been without its difficulties. The South African started the season injured after breaking her arm playing for her country in January. She subsequently missed the entirety of pre-season and made her return to court with the league already in full swing. "When we found out the Grand Final was at @TheO2 Arena, it gave us that extra bit of fight." 💗 🏟️ @Pulse_Netball captain @ZaraJaelE talks about what it means to have the opportunity to play at the 2025 Grand Final in her 'home' city on Sunday 6 July. Buy your tickets now ⬇️ Smith proved to be the least of Thunder's injury problems, with shooters Lois Pearson and Paige Reed both missing the majority of the season through hamstring and foot injuries respectively. It has meant there have been rocky moments at times in Smith's debut season in the yellow dress, as Thunder got to grips with an ever-changing cast of temporary replacements and NXT Gen players. But with their full squad now available to them for the play-off campaign, Smith hopes it will play in their favour having shown little of their hand to their opponents earlier in the campaign. 'A move is never easy to make. At the start of the season, I had an injury so I didn't have any pre-season games and my first game was in the league,' reflected Smith. 'We have had a lot of injuries, particularly losing our shooters but we were able to get through the season. It's something we can be really proud of, hopefully this weekend we show what we can do as a team. 'Having your full team at the end of the season is hopefully great timing. It's really nice having everyone back, it is a real boost. I think it is an advantage for us because there won't be a lot of footage available of our full team.' Thunder travel to Lightning off the back of victory over London Mavericks in the minor semi-final, having secured third place in the regular season table. Manchester Thunder are yet to beat Loughborough Lightning in the NSL this season (Image: Ben Lumley) Victory will punch their ticket to the O2 Arena on Sunday 6 July, where they will face London Pulse in the first Grand Final held at the iconic venue. A win there would seal back-to-back Super League titles for Smith, joining an elite club of players to win consecutive titles with different clubs, but she knows it will be no easy feat. 'It was a privilege coming to the league last year and having the opportunity to playing in the final and win,' she said. 'It's not an easy thing to do, it's not a given. 'Not being from this country, I didn't actually know how big the O2 was. I had to ask the girls 'is it really that big?' 'I am really excited to go there, it is a bigger venue than last year and the atmosphere is going to be great.' The NSL Grand Final will be held at The O2 on 6 July for the first time ever. Get your tickets to experience live elite netball.
South Wales Argus
29-06-2025
- Sport
- South Wales Argus
Burgess urging consistency as Lightning aim for Grand Final
Consistency can be hard to come by but it is exactly what Vic Burgess wants her Loughborough Lightning side to produce when they face Manchester Thunder in the Netball Super League Preliminary Final on Sunday. Lightning narrowly lost 50-49 to London Pulse in the major semi-final, with the reigning champions pushing the regular season table toppers all the way at the Copper Box. It will give Burgess plenty of cause for encouragement heading into Sunday's winner-takes-all contest, following a season that has been chequered by some surprise defeats. 'You learn a lot by losing but it also gives the players that drive to show what they are capable of,' she said. 'Those games [we lost] have been against teams that we should have been beating. It gives the players drive to want to be better and perform more consistently. 'Hopefully we are in a good position this week where we can take accountability and learn how we didn't execute as consistently as we wanted to or needed to.' Lightning lost twice to neighbours Nottingham Forest during the regular season and closed out their league campaign with defeat to Birmingham Panthers. It look their tally of defeats up to four, following an early humbling at home to London Pulse, before Burgess' side exacted some revenge with a win at the Copper Box in May. The one-point deficit in the major semi-final showed there was little between the sides, and the fine margins that are at play in knockout netball. For Burgess, it comes down to one word. 'Losing to Forest the first time around was a definite shift for us into a more winning ways focus,' she reflected. 'Facing them the second time, we probably found it more frustrating in that it came with a similar result but it was about consistency across all four quarters for us. "When we found out the Grand Final was at @TheO2 Arena, it gave us that extra bit of fight." 💗 🏟️ @Pulse_Netball captain @ZaraJaelE talks about what it means to have the opportunity to play at the 2025 Grand Final in her 'home' city on Sunday 6 July. Buy your tickets now ⬇️ — Netball Super League (@NetballSL) June 22, 2025 'Finding that consistency across the season has been more of a challenge compared to previous years, with the new rules, the Super Shot. 'There has definitely been a journey of navigating to get consistent performances and making sure we stick to the gameplan in all of our fixtures.' Lightning are targeting history this season and victory in the Grand Final at the O2 Arena on 6 July would make them the first team to win the Netball Super League three years in a row. With an unprecedented hat-trick of titles within reach, Burgess hopes her side's know-how can come to the fore. 'We have got key players who can really draw on their experience from their journeys before coming here,' she said. 'They can share that with the rest of the squad and keep people focussed. We can look after each other and keep everybody focussed on the task in hand.' Leading the way will be Nat Panagarry, who has captained Lightning to their past two Grand Final triumphs. She is part of a core group alongside Beth Cobden, Hannah Joseph, and Ella Clark who have been present at Lightning for all three of the club's Super League titles. 'This season we have really tried to ignore the outside noise and trust our process,' said Panagarry. 'At the start of the season we knew it was going to be a bit of a gradual build; we had quite a few new players and only the midcourt stayed the same and had that familiarity. 'You are beginning to see the shooting circle click now with Sammy [Wallace-Joseph], Ella, and Berri [Neil].' While Burgess spotlighted the defeats to Forest, Panagarry believes the early 77-51 defeat to Pulse in March was a seminal result in ensuring Lightning got back on the right track. 'We discussed at the start of the season that you have got to win when it matters,' she added. Panagarry is part of a core squad that have been with Loughborough Lightning for several seasons. (Image: Ben Lumley) 'Sometimes those losses really give you a kick and a bit of an education. It makes you have honest chats about how you want to play and what the team looks like. 'The Pulse loss in that second game was huge, it shook a lot of us up. There are four or five of us that haven't lost by that sort of scoreline in a long, long time. 'That was definitely a reality check and what we needed. It is about peaking at the right time and winning the final when it matters.' Victory against Thunder would book a rematch with Pulse in the first Grand Final to be held at the O2 Arena. For Panagarry, reaching such an iconic venue would bring home just how far the sport has come since she started playing in the Netball Super League. 'There were points where I played Super League and there were 100 people in the crowd,' she recalled. 'To be going to some now that have 3-4,000 is a huge show. That doesn't go unnoticed, I appreciate every time I step out in these big moments. 'The O2 this season has been on everyone's minds, to say you have done it and been there for the first time. It is definitely a motivator for me. We would love to be there, we will give everything we can."
South Wales Argus
19-06-2025
- Sport
- South Wales Argus
Amy Carter: Mavericks will have point to prove against Thunder
Thunder registered a 67-45 victory over Mavericks at OVO Arena Wembley in Round 14 to ensure a home semi-final with a Preliminary Final clash against Loughborough Lightning or London Pulse on the line for the winners. For third-placed Thunder, it presents the unusual scenario of consecutive matches against their fourth-placed foes in a tactical conundrum for the two sides. But Carter is expecting a refreshed Mavericks side from the one they beat a 22-goal margin just a week ago. 'It will be a different ball game to the result that we played last week so I think they've got a lot to prove,' she said. 'They'll have learned and they'll have taken notes from that and you can't ever underestimate a team just because you played well against them the previous time. 'They can change things up, they can learn a lot, they can put new combinations out but we've also done our homework so it'll be exciting to see them again.' For Thunder, who fell to defeat in the Grand Final last year, losing 70-54 to Loughborough Lightning, that homework has provided an opportunity to fine tune a game plan that has already proved successful this season. The Manchester outfit finished just one point off last year's champions Lightning with London Pulse five points further clear at the top. 'We're just building it back up and taking bits from here and there and amalgamating it into one game plan that covers everything,' explained Carter. 'Things that might not have worked from our game plan last week we might need to change but things that really worked we might want to do a bit more of. 'This week in training we'll do certain setups to emulate what Mavericks did at the weekend and we'll play our team against that and see what different setups we can do and to come back the best.' For both sides in the minor semi-final, the season has been far from straightforward. Mavericks suffered a number of injuries and absences in their attacking third, losing key attackers Paige Reed and Lois Pearson to injury and receiving the happier news of Nat Metcalf's pregnancy. It means Reed is still finding her feet on the netball court after returning from injury, but she feels the run of fixtures ahead of a hopeful Grand Final appearance that the minor semi-final provides can work in her favour. 'Coming back after being out for so long, naturally I'm feeling a bit unsettled, a bit nervous,' she admitted. 'But it helps that I've just been completely surrounded with Manchester Thunder the whole way. 'I feel like my transition has been seamless, but it's me personally just finding my feet again. 'It's so different running in a straight line than it is to be on court where you've got all these other factors that you've got to think about rather than just running in a straight line.' And while the minor semi-final will also provide a taste of how knockout netball feels as Thunder hope to progress further, for Reed that is a pressure the four-time winners have put on themselves all season. 'We're in a really good position where we're able to play more games, feel that pressure and understand what it takes to get over that line,' she said. 'We've been doing that all season anyway. We've been putting that on ourselves. We want to win and we want to keep pushing on. 'We've been striving for this the whole time and we've already prepped what the season would look like.' To keep up with the latest news, make sure to follow the @NetballSL on X, Instagram and TikTok, Netball Super League on Facebook and LinkedIn, and subscribe to our newsletter. The NSL Grand Final will be held at The O2 on 6 July for the first time ever. Get your tickets to experience live elite netball!
