Jess Thirlby looks back on the 2024 NSL season

From arena game upsets to roaring victories and engaging story arcs, 18 games of regular season action and two semi-finals has resulted in a Grand Final between Manchester Thunder and Loughborough Lightning.

With the season now coming to a close, we caught up with Thirlby to break down her favourite games and standout performers of the past few months.

Looking back is the perfect opportunity to reflect on those names and teams that haven’t been the talk of the town but seen success on the court nevertheless.

Names such as Leeds Rhinos’ Cassie Howard and Manchester Thunder’s Taylor McKevitt who have shone no matter the challenges thrown at them.

“Before the season started, Caroline O’Hanlon was providing a bit of a spine with Geva [Mentor] and Joyce [Mvula] for Leeds,” she said.

 

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“But when she hasn’t been as available for different reasons, I think Cassie has really not just stepped in but jumped.

“She has delivered and contributed really well to what I would say is a Leeds team that had a slower start but came good from halfway right through until the end of the season.

“Likewise with Taylor McKevitt. It would have been easy to look at the likes of Thunder recruiting Imogen Allison and having Amy Cater and think ‘well, there’s no room for me’.

“But actually, Karen Greig has done a great job to create challenges and keeping the competition for places in that group strong.

“Taylor has really risen to that challenge and when she has been inserted or started, she has been really deserving based on her performances.”

 

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One of the greatest story arcs of the season was the rise of Jo Trip’s Severn Stars.

The side made history by reaching the top four for the first time this season in what has been an incredible performance that Thirlby puts down to their brilliant recruitment process and dynamic duos on court.

“I think last year, there were really strong signs from Stars that they were building some more consistency, and were finding ways to compete with teams around them in that mid table more often,” she added.

“Then this season, I think they recruited really well.

“The players that they recruited weren’t really new to the league but instead came from a number of different teams so they came with great experience,.

“I think the challenge that they had was how quickly they could form a cohesive team and a unit out of that, and they’ve obviously found a way.

“I’ve been impressed with some of their partnerships too. Obviously Jas Brown has been talked about a lot and that challenge of playing with her coach and an experienced player in Jo Trip has really brought the best out of her.”

 

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But there’s one moment that undoubtedly stands out for Thirlby: Manchester Thunder versus London Pulse at the AO Arena.

In a game that saw Pulse take the lead until the dying seconds, Thunder were able to overturn the score and jump to a 44-40 win, in a netball match that the Roses head coach believes perfectly personifies the future of netball in the UK.

Thirlby added: “If you were going to package up what you want the NSL 2.0 to do for the league moving forward, that was it.

“It was a great game on the court. It was obviously frustrating for Pulse but to push Manchester Thunder that hard at home for that long I thought was massive.

“Those arena games have made for great viewing this season and I enjoyed watching that game as a fan as much as I did as Roses coach.”

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