Tuesday 8 March 2016 14:19, UK
Round Six has to be one of the highlights so far this season with table-toppers Manchester Thunder losing out to the reigning champions Surrey Storm on Monday.
Victory for the Storm came days after their one goal defeat to Loughborough Lightning, who were edged out against a Team Northumbria outfit that have now recorded back-to-back wins.
Yorkshire Jets will want to forget their last few fixtures, losing to Celtic Dragons in a battle at the bottom, while Team Bath couldn't stop high-flying Hertfordshire Mavericks and the league table was blown open on Monday night, making for some eagerly anticipated Round Seven matches.
Early impressions
On paper the teams that were tipped as contenders fill the top five places and have confirmed that they are in the hunt for this year's title.
Many, myself included, hinted in pre-season that it was unlikely that the 2016 champions would go undefeated and that is true after Thunder's first defeat against Storm, who bounced back from defeat to Loughborough just 48 hours earlier.
The top four are a familiar force with Jets unable to find their 2015 form. But figures rarely tell the whole story and the stand-out attraction this year has to be the nature of the wins and the one-goal thrillers we have already seen.
Loughborough have a penchant for these type of games but will no doubt rue their defeat against Team Northumbria, who had only won one game before their clash. It proved costly for Lightning and leaves them in fifth place ahead of Friday night's crucial clash with Team Bath.
Storm appear to be finding form and confidence, perfect timing ahead of London Live and they may well make it a clean sweep of victories at the Olympic Park venue that has served them well.
Team Bath have work to do against the best teams in the league. Despite some patches of play being among the best seen so far, the deficits in each of their losses have been too great.
Thunder find themselves in need of more homework after a first defeat and will welcome a Roses match-up with the Jets, a fixture in recent seasons that has been closely contested. This time around I fear Manchester will prove too strong and coach Dan Ryan may get an opportunity to expose more of his combos and inject players off the bench.
Farewell Jade
Tonight marks the last game for Loughborough superstar Jade Clarke before she departs for the Southern Hemisphere and the Adelaide Thunderbirds - a much talked about move but one just too good for Jade to turn down and I wish her well.
With the loss of Sasha Corbin so early in their campaign Loughborough will be digging deep to ensure they can remain competitive despite the adversity they have been dealt.
So much time is spent throwing the spotlight on 'key individuals' but I feel that this year's winners, more so than ever, will need to be the best 'team', whose environment is cultivating the culture needed to perform under the increasing pressure our league demands.
Team-by-team
Who has the versatility and strength in depth to cope when players pick up injuries? Who will perform when the team need them the most or just get simply get shut down by their opponents? These will be the squads that stand the best chance.
Every team is showing their strengths, whether it's the physicality and man-on-man defence combined with one of the strongest midcourt combos in the league of Thunder; the range and stature of Mavericks' defensive unit coupled with an exciting circle attack of Sam Wallace and England's Georgie Fisher learning her trade.
Loughborough have a great mix of an off-marking and man-on-man defence style, with the ability and accuracy of Peace Proscovia and Kadeen Corbin's combinations at the other end of the court.
Surrey have the experience of winning, holding the title and when the likes of Rachel Dunn and Pamela Cookey are on form like on Monday, they can beat anyone.
Dragons have shown that they can compete with teams for longer periods and with a target such as Georgia Rowe it starves teams of the much needed turnover opportunity, the key for them will be in taking more ball from the more clinical attacking units and shooters.
Team Bath boast two of the most prolific and accurate shooters so far in the league with Chelsea Lewis and Lenize Potgieter in fine form but the challenge for the south-west outfit is to afford them more opportunities at goal.
For Jets they will need to find some consistency if they are to get the results and with Stacey Francis leading the way there is no doubt they will not let up that pursuit.
Team Northumbria for me are still a dark horse, you can't ignore their result against Loughborough and I believe they have the capacity to repeat this in the second half of the season.
London Live
So attention turns to Round Seven and London Live. Who will come out on top in an eagerly anticipated derby?
it is always tough to call and sitting side-by-side in the table going into the weekend, there is not much to separate them, with both confident coming off Round Six wins against other top four teams.
The experience and relationship of Dunn and Cookey far outweighs that of the Mavericks' newly formed shooting line-up so Linsay Keable, Layla Guscoth and Sam May will have their work cut out if they are to force errors but they have the capacity to do so on a good day.
I feel it will be won or lost in the midcourt and a match-up between former Mavericks player Sophie Candappa and Kiwi Joline Johannson is an intriguing one. Surrey will need to service their circle well and win ball early before Mavericks get a chance to feed the impressive Wallace.
Mavericks will need to be smart, steal some ball and be clinical from it. My gut feeling says Storm on a good day will rise to the occasion and may just edge it but either way it should be closely contested.
