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As we prepare for the major and minor semi-finals of the Netball Super League, Tamsin Greenaway and Tracey Neville from the Off the Court podcast give their thoughts on the two matchups as the 2026 season goes down to the wire.
Manchester Thunder and reigning champions London Pulse will meet in the main semi-final, with the winner booking their place in the grand final at Manchester’s Co-op Live on June 20.
Loughborough Lightning and Nottingham Forest will play in the minor semi-final, where the winner will face the loser of the Thunder and Pulse clash to determine the other finalists.
Netball Super League 2026 standings
Both the major and minor semi-finals will be played on Saturday 6 June – Sky Sports Mix and Live Sky Sports‘ YouTube – with Lightning vs Forest first from 3pm, before Thunder vs Pulse from 5.30pm.
Minor semi-final: Loughborough Lightning v Nottingham Forest
Tamsin Greenway: “On paper, it’s a winnable game for Loughborough.
“They’ve been to a million finals, got a lot of experience across the board, but they’ve had their own problems in the last couple of weeks with a lot of injuries and having to shuffle their squad.
“Where they are so dominant is in the goal circle, where they have scored 1,000 goals. And you look at the number of goals Forest have scored, they are more than 100 behind them.
“You think on paper it’s a Loughbrough game. However, we’ve talked bogey teams and Nottingham Forest are the Lightning.
“They played each other in round seven, where Loughbrough won – but by just one goal – and then in round 12, Forest came out on top 76-65. They were pretty faultless that day.
“Forest, for me, they have no fear when they play in teams. That’s why they are so dangerous.
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In the Off the Court podcast, Tamsin Greenaway suggests that increasing squad size could reduce the number of injuries in Super League.
“I think all the pressure is on the Lightning here. I’m not sure they find themselves in this position with their many injury problems.
“It’s going to be a cracker but I think Loughborough can still do it, because they’ve got a lot of experience in that position.”
Major Semi-Final: Manchester Thunder v London Pulse
Tracey Neville: “Do I say that the Pulse can’t come? They’ve got a match winner in their team.
“They’ve also got a pretty good, stable back end to go against the Thunder’s strength, their front end.
“What I’ve seen is that these Thunder players are improving at the right time; Sophie Fons is outstanding, and I think Eleanor Cardwell is back to her past performances that she hit before the injury.
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Sophie Fawns begins her journey into netball and AO joins Manchester Thunder.
“The thing with Pulse is that they hold Eleanor, but I think feeding Eleanor last month was exceptional, especially when Nat Metcalf was there.
“I think the Thunder are coming into form at the right time. And you know, they have so much enthusiasm to go to the finals in their hometown – there’s no bigger chocolate bar than that.
“Thunder has everything to lose, but also everything to win.”
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