News
News
Burgess: Reaching a fifth final is something to be proud of

Vic Burgess believes Loughborough Lightning must be proud of the history they made even as they fell short of a third Netball Super League title in a row.
Lightning reached their fifth straight Grand Final, extending their record run, but were unable to become the first club to lift the trophy in three consecutive years.
They were beaten by first-time champions London Pulse 53-45 in front of 9,326 fans at the O2 Arena.
“I am proud of where we’ve got to,” Burgess said. “This is our fifth final in a row, it is not easy to make a final.
“Sometimes the players forget that, they forget that this is tough and they need to be reminded that we are proud of them.”
Lightning took an early lead in the game but were soon hauled back by London Pulse, who held onto their advantage even as Lightning mixed it up as they chased the score.
Berri Neil made way for Ella Clark in goal attack, with the experienced Clark sinking back-to-back Soft & Gentle Super Shots to cut the deficit to just two at half-time.

However, the defensive might of London Pulse disrupted Lightning from cleanly getting the ball into their shooters.
As the game progressed, London Pulse were able to shoot with more clarity to mean that, even with the Super Shot, Lightning were always at arm's length.
It meant that the Pulse claimed their third win over Lightning this season, having defeated them in the league stage and the major semi-final, the latter by one point.
“I don’t think we were losing it in the same way throughout the game,” added Burgess.
“We have worked really hard on what our game plan was going to look like in terms of how we can exploit their box defence and be smarter on the ball and make sure we have got multiple options.
“I felt like our structure was so much better than the last time we played them so I was really pleased with that.
“But I just don’t think we capitalised on the opportunities that we had. We did a good job of being smart through their defensive structure because they have got an awesome defensive structure, they are one of the best at the box.
“This was something we looked at last week as this is something we can do to exploit it but ultimately there were parts where we didn’t sink the shots or where we made a couple of errors.
“The structures we were really happy with but we are disappointed not to get across the line.”

With Lightning’s run of Grand Final appearances, they have helped to shape the sport as it moved into NSL 2.0.
It meant that even in defeat Burgess was able to celebrate playing in front of a record crowd for an NSL event.
She added: “It’s been great to see people turning up to big games, and great to see the broadcasting has opened up more opportunities for people to watch netball and get involved in it.
“People watching on BBC and Sky will have seen netball and how it has developed and hopefully that has influenced them to come to the final whether they are just a supporter of netball or one of the teams.
“To have the opportunity to play in such a big arena, the girls love it, they thrive off it and I think more of these is only better.”