Back-to-back champions for the first time in the club's history, after beating the Manchester club 49-42, the defending champions were only ever temporarily behind as they fought for every ball, stifling a usually free-scoring Thunder. It is the first time a team has won consecutive titles since Surrey Storm in 2015 and 2016.
In front of a crowd of more than 8,000, a record for a Super League Grand Final, Thunder struggled to recover from a nervy start as Lightning dominated to secure their third title in four years after building the biggest lead of the game as the favourite’s dominance from the start. “Unbelievable, to win a final against a team like Thunder is always tough,” said head coach Vic Burgess.
Thunder started poorly and some sloppy play and wayward passing left them trailing by six after just nine minutes. “To get a 16-goal win in a final is unbelievable,” Burgess said.
“The back-to-back wins was exactly what we set out to do, so I’m very proud.
“They deserve it – they’re a formidable team.” The winning captain, Natalie Panagarry, said it was important to keep the goal in mind. “We had a talk about a month ago,” she said.
“We were literally like ‘this is not good enough’. We weren’t speaking about going back-to-back – it wasn’t in the language as much as it was at the start of the season.
“The staff put ownership on us and said ‘do you actually want to win this? Don’t be scared of it and own it’.
“So, for four weeks we’ve had the trophy at training sessions and weights, we’ve been seeing it, wanting it and keeping it at ours.” Thunder had finished top of the league with just one defeat all season but victory for Lightning means they will enter the new phase of elite netball in the UK as champions.
Overwhelmed with emotion at the final whistle, Lightning’s players hugged each other and danced with the crowd. A word of caution - this was the last season of the NSL in its current guise as it relaunches in 2025, in a move towards professionalisation.
