London Mavericks and Nottingham Forest clinched narrow wins over Midlands teams last weekend, edging Birmingham Panthers and Loughborough Lightning respectively.
The sides’ similarities do not stop there as they both scored 83 per cent of their Super Shots – two of the best in the league so far – and now they will face each other on Friday, live on Sky Sports from 7.30pm.
Mavericks will be looking to defend their top-three spot in the table but Forest will be full of confidence after beating two-time reigning champions Lightning last time out.
Chloe Merrell, the co-host of the Netball Unlocked podcast told Sky Sports’ Off The Court show: “I think [Friday’s game is] going to tell us a little bit about where Mavericks are in that top-four race.
“Yes, they’re on nine points, but they have played the three teams that are at the bottom of the ladder [Panthers, Leeds Rhinos and Cardiff Dragons] and they got pumped by [table-toppers] London Pulse. That’s really what happened.”
Forest’s 6ft 1in South African goal shooter Rolene Streutker scored 38 goals last weekend alone, showing herself to be a strong force in her NSL debut season.
Niamh Cooper’s Nottingham Forest are fifth in the Netball Super League
‘Super Shot is underestimated’
After losing to Mavericks, Panthers’ Gabby Coffey believes the Super Shot is “underestimated” and that defenders are still figuring out how to defend it.
The new Super Shot rule allows teams to score two-goal shots from an area in the outer edge of the shooting circle during the last five minutes of each quarter.
Coffey said on Off The Court: “It took SSN [Suncorp Super Netball, Australia’s netball league] a few years to figure out the best way to defend the Super Shot.
“It’s about being smart and taking up more space, being one on one, but it’s also that spatial awareness and taking it up so that players don’t sweep into that area.
“I think it’s more just that the NSL over the next few years will hopefully get better at it, but it is such an unnatural way of defending if you’re not used to it.”
Coffey: Panthers need to find consistency
London Pulse have won all four of their games in the Netball Super League this season
Elsewhere this weekend, Manchester Thunder will host Leeds Rhinos on Saturday, live on Sky Sports from 5pm, looking to stay within reach of league-leaders Pulse.
Thunder lost to Lightning in round one but have since reeled off comfortable wins over Panthers, Forest and Dragons and, like Mavericks, are three points behind Pulse.
Merrell says that with Lightning having “failed to live up to expectation” Thunder look likely to be in the Grand Final with Pulse this summer.
Lightning play the winless Dragons at home on Saturday, where a victory could move them into second as it stands. Then, on Sunday, winless Panthers face unbeaten Pulse, live on Sky Sports from 6pm.
Loughborough Lightning have won the Netball Super League in three of the last four years
Looking ahead to the challenge of facing Pulse, Panthers defender Coffey added: “[A good game for me is] one where we are being really competitive and doing it for the full four quarters.
“That consistency of not letting it slip away that it maybe has in the past few rounds. And then when we have the run, just take it.
“We’ve got to keep accelerating, keep building that ground because you know how Super Shots can be.”
Leave a Reply