Nicola Smith raring for return to Loughborough with Manchester Thunder

Nicola Smith knows exactly what it takes to reach a Grand Final with Loughborough Lightning but now she is out to stop them.

The South African won the Netball Super League with Lightning last season, marking a statement debut campaign in England.

Smith made a summer switch to Manchester Thunder and now faces her old side in this season’s Preliminary Final, with a place in the Grand Final against London Pulse on the line when they meet on Sunday.

But the defender insists she doesn’t have the inside scoop on her opponents and knows a typically tough game is in the offing.

“It’s not going to be an easy game. We’ve been training really hard, and I am excited to see what is going to happen,” she said.

“When I come up against Loughborough, I have treated it as just another game, it’s just another team.

“Loughborough are doing things differently this year so I can’t go back on what I knew from last year; I don’t have any inside information.”

Smith’s transition from one high-flying franchise to another has not been without its difficulties.

The South African started the season injured after breaking her arm playing for her country in January. She subsequently missed the entirety of pre-season and made her return to court with the league already in full swing.

Thunder also faced other injury challenges with shooters Lois Pearson and Paige Reed both missing the majority of the season through hamstring and foot injuries respectively.

It has meant there have been rocky moments at times in Smith’s debut season in the yellow dress, as Thunder got to grips with an ever-changing cast of temporary replacements and NXT Gen players.

But with their full squad now available to them for the play-off campaign, Smith hopes it will play in their favour having shown little of their hand to their opponents earlier in the campaign.

“A move is never easy to make. At the start of the season, I had an injury so I didn’t have any pre-season games and my first game was in the league,” reflected Smith.

“We have had a lot of injuries, particularly losing our shooters but we were able to get through the season. It’s something we can be really proud of, hopefully this weekend we show what we can do as a team.

“Having your full team at the end of the season is hopefully great timing. It’s really nice having everyone back, it is a real boost. I think it is an advantage for us because there won’t be a lot of footage available of our full team.”

Thunder travel to Lightning off the back of victory over London Mavericks in the minor semi-final, having secured third place in the regular season table.

Victory will punch their ticket to the O2 Arena on Sunday 6 July, where they will face London Pulse in the first Grand Final held at the iconic venue.

A win there would seal back-to-back Super League titles for Smith, joining an elite club of players to win consecutive titles with different clubs, but she knows it will be no easy feat.

“It was a privilege coming to the league last year and having the opportunity to playing in the final and win,” she said. “It’s not an easy thing to do, it’s not a given.

“Not being from this country, I didn’t actually know how big the O2 was. I had to ask the girls ‘is it really that big?’

“I am really excited to go there, it is a bigger venue than last year and the atmosphere is going to be great.”

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