Netball Super League: What happened in round seven?

Who will win the shooter battle? Is this the ‘most exciting’ Super League season yet? And who is showing they are an important part of the England squad ahead of this summer’s World Cup?

Here are the talking points from Round 7 of the Netball Super League.

Every Super League winning team needs a really good marksman – so who’s going to shine in the all-important role this season?

Manchester Thunder’s Lenize Potgieter has been outstanding since arriving this season, firing 95 shots in her side’s doubles week – 53 in Thunder’s comfortable 76-57 win over Team Bath and 42 in their tense 63-56 win over Severn Stars. he went to the wire.

The South African recorded an overall shooting accuracy of 96%, with just four misses in nearly 120 minutes of netball.

The Stars’ fearless performance against Thunder was helped by a confident shooting performance from Sigrid Burger, who hit 47 of his 48 shots and sits second overall with 311.

Burger is second to Storm’s Proscovia Peace – who scored 32 goals in her side’s 68-40 win over Celtic Dragons to take her season tally to 329.

Meanwhile, Strathclyde Sirens’ Bethan Goodwin scored 50 goals in her side’s impressive 71-47 win over the Saracens Mavericks, the highest margin since 2017.

Another marksman looking to make her mark is veteran Rachel Dunn, who made her first appearance for the Dragons against Storm since going without a team after Wasps was removed from the league in November.

The former England star has played over 200 games in the Super League and on Monday it was announced she would join Dragons after shooter Chelsea Beard was ruled out for the remainder of the season through injury.

Layla Guscoth is a name that England fans have come to expect in the Roses squad and it will be no different at this summer’s World Cup.

Guscoth’s World Cup 2019 came to an agonizing end in Liverpool when she tore her Achilles tendon in England’s second group game.

But the 31-year-old has since been a fixture in head coach Jess Thirlby’s squad and despite her relative inexperience compared to veteran defender Geva Mentor, Thirlby has relied on her skills at Franz Baymann following the retirement of defenders Eboni Usoro-Brown and Stacey.

Her dynamism, pace of work, consistency and ability to snatch the ball out of thin air have proved crucial to Storm’s terrific campaign so far and could be crucial to England’s medal hopes as well.

Leeds Rhinos remain the only team without a win but their performances may not justify their position at the bottom of the league.

Rhinos led 30-29 at half-time against the Loughborough Lightning, but after what head coach Liana Leota described as a “terrible” last quarter, they suffered a 63-49 loss.

“It’s another step up, but last week [against Manchester Thunder] It was our third quarter that was grueling and this week is the fourth,” Leota said. “In these critical moments, we have to learn how to win.”

Former New Zealand international Leota was part of the Thunder team that won the Super League in 2019 and she knows what it means to have a winning mentality.

“We have to be a little gentle with ourselves about this, even though we set goals and don’t quite achieve them, we’re getting closer and closer. We’re not far from it,” she told BBC Sport.

“I’d rather have gradual gains than experience the ups and downs of winning and then losing.”

While Leota’s side are still looking for their first win, she said this year is “the most exciting” she has participated in during her seven-year Super League career.

“Every team is exciting, you can’t tell what the score might be or who will win.

“When I played with Thunder, sometimes you showed up knowing what you were going to get, you might have known you were going to walk away with a win, but this year you just can’t do that.”