Netball Super League: Everything you need to know from round five

Manchester Thunder beat Loughborough Lightning in last season's Super League final

Manchester Thunder come out on top in a Grand Final repeat, Surrey Storm's defeat means there are no unbeaten teams remaining and which player staked their claim for a World Cup spot?

Here are the talking points from round five in the Netball Super League.

• Netball Super League scores and fixtures

• Catch up with round four of the Super League

Lightning come up short in Grand Final repeat

Loughborough Lightning have not beaten Manchester Thunder since April 2019 and came up short once again as the defending champions secured a 62-55 victory in a repeat of the 2022 Grand Final.

Thunder, the only side to overcome Lightning last season, started the better of the two on Friday at Belle Vue in front of a raucous crowd, celebrating their side's first home match of the season.

Thunder's shooters managed to keep in-form defender Fran Williams quiet with South Africa's Lenize Potgieter scoring 42 of her 44 shots and Lois Pearson adding 20.

"Lenize has been great, I only met her three-and-a-half weeks ago in person so that makes it a bit tricky but she's been really easy to work with," said Thunder head coach Karen Greig.

"Those connections are still building so we're all learning fast and it's working for us."

Lightning, without key mid-courter Hannah Joseph, clawed their way back in the third quarter, but were unable to overcome a nine-goal half-time deficit.

"It was a well-contested game," said Greig. "It was always going to be nip and tuck on who could get the upper edge and fortunately we were able to do that."

This was Lightning's first defeat of the season and Thunder were ultimately more clinical in winning the ball back and converting to goals while Lightning's errors in possession proved costly.

"We like to keep things fresh, we like to throw new things at teams each time we play them," Greig told BBC Sport. "We put a gameplan together with the players we have - in our attacking unit as a whole there was some really smart play and we worked the ball really nicely."

The reverse fixture takes place in April at what could be a crucial time in the top-four race.

Storm defeat leaves no team unbeaten

After Thunder went the entirety of 2022 unbeaten, this season has already seen all 10 clubs taste defeat at least once.

Surrey Storm's 52-47 loss to fellow top-four chasers London Pulse was their first loss of the season and proves how open the league is this year.

Having lost to Thunder last time out, a thrilling third-quarter performance from Pulse saw them put up 17 goals to Storm's seven despite trailing by four at the break.

Each of the current top-four sides have taken points from each other with several of the chasing pack also capable of causing an upset.

Severn Stars beat a struggling Team Bath 67-50 on Saturday with Jo Trip's side having already secured as many wins as they did in the whole of last season (three) and on track to deliver their target of winning 50% of their matches this campaign.

Saracens Mavericks, who beat Celtic Dragons 61-47, are also back in the hunt for a semi-final spot after a sticky start to the season.

World Cup watch - McDonald shines as Rhinos earn first point

Elle McDonald showed promising signs of what she can do at wing attack for Leeds Rhinos

Mid-courter Elle McDonald's impressive performances in England's January series against Jamaica, her first in a Roses dress, will have left her with World Cup selection ambitions.

While her move to Leeds Rhinos from Adelaide Thunderbirds has put her under the nose of Roses head coach Jess Thirlby, results at the Yorkshire outfit have not quite gone her way.

Rhinos came from behind against Strathclyde Sirens - thanks in large part to an energetic McDonald performance - to earn a dramatic 52-52 draw in Scotland.

After trailing by four at the break Rhinos created a three-goal gap of their own with two minutes on the clock, only to be stung by a composed late buzzer-beater from Sirens' Bethan Goodwin which prevented them securing the win.

McDonald showed promising signs of what she can do at wing attack, distributing 14 feeds to her shooters and providing the engine to link attack and defence.

But something is still not quite clicking for Rhinos and they remain the only side in the league without a win so far.