Five things we learned from the 2025 NSL Grand Final

The 2025 Netball Super League Grand Final served up things never seen before. 

A first-time winner and a record crowd were just two aspects of a day at the O2 Arena that brought netball fans together for a spectacle of epic proportions. 

If you weren’t one of the people inside the legendary venue, here are five things you should know about London Pulse’s win over Loughborough Lightning. 

1. You can win something with kids 

None of London Pulse’s players were even born when Alan Hansen uttered the immortal words ‘you can’t win anything with kids’ in 1995. 

In fact, the 2025 champions had the youngest side of all eight teams in the Netball Super League this season. 

Their usual bench of Darcie Everitt, Sophie Kelly and Gracie Smith have an average of 18-and-a-half with the latter the youngest ever Super League player at just 16 years old. 

It was a statistic not lost on head coach Sam Bird as she toasted her team’s first victory. 

“We are fearless, if you are good enough you are going on and that showed with Gracie,” Bird said. “Our philosophy to trust talent is paying off. 

“To win the league with the youngest team shows where we can go from here. My immediate thought was we are winning this next year. This is the foundation of the team.” 

2. NSL 2.0 reaches new heights 

With the Grand Final always tantalisingly close, the decibels inside the O2 Arena in London climbed higher and higher. 

They reached ear-splitting levels as the majority of fans in the Arena cheered a Pulse win. 

There was still heavy Lightning representation among the 9,326 supporters in attendance, a record for an NSL event and the biggest netball crowd in England since 2002. 

The ambition of moving to a Grand Final venue bigger than any before well and truly paid off. 

Now, the aim is to see attendances continue to increase across the board as NSL 2.0 gathers pace. 

Loughborough Lightning head coach Vic Burgess said: “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. 

“To have the opportunity to play in such a big arena, the girls love it, the thrive off it and I think more of these is only better.” 

3. Gibson bids farewell with fairytale ending 

The Grand Final was not only about the competition on the court, but also provided the chance to say goodbye to one of the NSL’s longest servants in Jodie Gibson. 

The defender had returned to Loughborough Lightning for the 2025 season, having also represented Manchester Thunder, London Mavericks and Severn Stars across 15 years in the league. 

A Commonwealth gold medallist and two-time NSL winner, Gibson’s career may have ended in defeat but she still believed it was the perfect final chapter of a fairytale. 

“When I first stepped on a court for Northern Thunder in 2009, we were in Bury Leisure Centre where I used to do my school swimming lessons,” she said.  

“There were maybe 5-600 people there, maybe less. Sixteen years later, I have just finished my career at the O2 Arena.  

“I was here watching Usher recently, and now I am here playing on the court in front of all of those people, it’s a dream come true.” 

4. Defensive trio shine brightly 

There’s something about threes, with London Pulse claiming all the silverware on offer this season – the NSL Super Cup, the League Leaders’ Shield and the NSL trophy. 

Pulse’s defensive trio of Halimat Adio at goal keeper, goal defender Funmi Fadoju and skipper Zara Everitt at wing defence have been crucial to their side’s success. 

Losing head coach Burgess even revealed that her Lightning side were set up to try and combat the box defence that Pulse execute so well. 

Fadoju was named Player of the Final and produced a league-high number of interceptions, deflections and gains across the season. 

Adio sat one place behind Fadoju for deflections, while Pulse’s defence made up the top three for pick-ups across the league. 

All three tasted the pain of Grand Final defeat in 2023, and that experience, as well as several years playing together, helped power them to a clinical victory on Sunday. 

5. Ready for next year? 

With Bird already laying down the gauntlet that her team can win again next season, the fighting talk for the 2026 campaign has begun. 

It comes as the signing window opens for clubs on Monday, allowing them to begin negotiating re-signings and transfers. 

Burgess has expressed her desire to keep the Lightning squad that reached a fifth-straight Grand Final together. 

With the introduction of two-year contracts as part of NSL 2.0, there is greater clarity for some players. 

But, for everyone else, a summer of intrigue and excitement begins again. 

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