Netball Super Cup: Unwrapped

The Netball Super Cup has set the tone for what to expect in the 2025 Netball Super League season.

Competitive games, big comebacks, and all-out action.

Here’s five things we learned as the season began in Sheffield:

It’s not how you start

London Pulse have been close to glory before, and then seen it slip from their fingers.

They topped the table in 2023 before tasting defeat to Loughborough Lightning in the Grand Final, and were beaten in the semi-finals last season.

But at the Super Cup, Pulse gave themselves all the work to do in the latter stages of the tournament as they opened with a draw and a loss.

With their backs against the wall, they showed the mental fight that needed to earn a clutch victory over Cardiff Dragons to set up a semi-final with Manchester Thunder.

Thunder had won all three of their group matches but were beaten by Pulse, who went on to claim the trophy with a comfortable victory over NIC Leeds Rhinos in the final.

Super Shot says hello

Almost as hotly anticipated as the 2025 season, the Soft & Gentle Super Shot made its debut in Sheffield.

For the final three minutes of each half, goals from a designated area at the edge of the circle counted double and turned games on their heads.

Emily Andrew will go down in history as the first scorer of a Super Shot, with it perhaps unsurprising an Australian earned that honour, with it already a feature of the game Down Under.

Another slice of history is up for grabs on Friday when someone will become the first player to nail a Super Shot in the Netball Super League.

All four teams getting underway at 7pm on 14 March will be gunning to take that honour as the Super Cup showed every club will be looking to take advantage when they can.

Mentor remains ageless

Nia Jones could barely fathom on commentary that Geva Mentor has played in six World Cups stretching back to 2003.

And it is not hard to understand why when the 40-year-old delivered such stirring performances in Sheffield.

After just one season at NIC Leeds Rhinos, Mentor has become talismanic and her worth to the team shone on Saturday.

Her defensive abilities helped earn Lauren Palmer her first win as Rhinos coach in her second game, defeating eventual champions London Pulse en route to the final.

With incomporable experience and the ability to still causing nightmares for any shooter, Mentor will be key for the Yorkshire side theis season.

Setting the tone

While the Super Cup will feel quite different to the regular season, it has given us a glimpse of teams’ mentalities.

Manchester Thunder showed their usual Northern grit to deft injury issues and reach the semi-finals.

LexisNexis Cardiff Dragons proved they are entering a new era alongside the league while Loughborough Lightning emphasised they can handle the heat they will feel as defending champions.

New teams Nottingham Forest and Birmingham Panthers showed they are not to be underestimated in their debut seasons, while London Mavericks reminded all the teams they will be tough to beat.

And if you are left wanting more

The Super Cup has certainly whetted appetites for more netball and there is less than a week until the league season begins.

Cardiff Dragons host a new-look London Mavericks while newcomers Birmingham Panthers travel to Leeds Rhinos with both games getting underway at 7pm on Friday 14 March.

Round 1 concludes on Sunday as Nottingham Forest make their bow away to London Pulse at 5pm before a titanic tussle at the AO Arena as Manchester Thunder host Loughborough Lightning at 6:30pm in an early rematch of last season's Grand Final. Club tickets are available here.