Lisa O'Sullivan

Lisa's View 20 February 2009

The 2008-09 season is proving that the Co-operative Superleague is going from strength to strength. Heading into the final few rounds there are matters to be decided at the top and the bottom of the table.

Rookie franchise Glasgow Wildcats have been pussyfooting around a win in the latter half of the fixtures. Few would have bet on them getting their first victory away from home and fewer still would have plonked their cash on a comfortable win over Brunel Hurricanes. Those two points were enough to bump the Wildcats off the bottom for a week. Celtic Dragons have also shown major improvement over the season and almost equalled Northern Thunder in the reverse fixture. A one point defeat can be hard to swallow but on the plus side it shows how close the teams really are whatever the final score suggests.

Moving on up the table and just four points separate the next four teams Northern Thunder and Team Northumbria have built consistency into their matchday performances while Leeds Carnegie have banked the points as well. Just two rounds ago Brunel Hurricanes seemed to be shoe-ins for the 4th play-off place but heading into round 16 the Guildford outfit look vulnerable. Who will finish fourth?

Mavericks are the reigning champions and after a reshuffle of players this term have been looking confident on the court. Loughborough Lightning have come so close to taking the title but have never won the title to date and must be wondering if this is the year.

Finally Team Bath and it's fair to say in league netball we're saving the best 'til last. Played 12 won 12 with a perfect 24 points on the board this team has been setting the statistics to chase. Let's use their goal-machine goal-attack Pam Cookey as an example of the team's attitude and performance. This year her shooting stats have only dropped below 80% twice, and we're told she wasn't happy then - but she's also had two perfect matches nailing 100% of her shots.