Northern Thunder Between 2001 and 2005 Northern Thunder, together with five other franchises –
Northern Flames,
London Tornadoes,
London Hurricanes,
University of Birmingham Blaze and
Team Bath Force – competed in the
Super Cup. Northern Thunder won the 2002 Super Cup. Northern Thunder players from the Super Cup era included
Amanda Newton,
Tracey Neville,
Jade Clarke and
Sara Bayman In
2005 Northern Thunder were named as the
North West England franchise in the new
Netball Super League. Together with
Brunel Hurricanes,
Celtic Dragons,
Leeds Carnegie,
Galleria Mavericks,
Team Bath,
Loughborough Lightning and
Team Northumbria, Northern Thunder were founding members of the league. In
2012, Thunder won their first Superleague title.
Janelle Lawson scored 33 goals as they defeated
Surrey Storm 57–55 in the grand final.
Manchester Thunder In
2012 Thunder relocated from
Bury, Greater Manchester to
Gorton. They subsequently changed their name from Northern Thunder to Manchester Thunder ahead of the
2013 season. In
2014 Thunder won their second Super League title after defeating
Surrey Storm 49–48 in the grand final. In
2019 Thunder won their third Super League title. In the
2022 season Manchester Thunder finished the regular season undefeated, becoming the first team to do so over 20 games. They defeated
Team Bath in the semi-finals and then beat
Loughborough Lightning in the final to claim their 4th Super League title. In the
2023 season they finished 3rd in the regular season standings and were defeated in their semi-final by the eventual champions
Loughborough Lightning. They beat
Surrey Storm in the third-place play-off. In the 2024 season Manchester Thunder finished the regular season top of the table, having only lost one game - against
Loughborough Lightning at home. They faced
Severn Stars in the Semi Final, beating them 63-54, to set up a final against Loughborough, where they were defeated 54-70. In
2025 season, Thunder faced many challenges with
Lois Pearson, Paige Reed and new signing Nicola Smith all out with injuries and
Natalie Metcalf announcing her pregnancy. Despite this the team finished 3rd in the league qualifying for playoffs where they beat
London Mavericks 79-49 in the minor Semi-Final, but lost to
Loughborough Lightning 69-57 in the Preliminary Final. In August 2025 Debbie Hallas announced her decision to step down as a director and away from day-to-day involvement of Thunder. David Jennings became the new owner. In September 2025 Thunder launched a rebrand which incorporated a new logo, look and feel, as well as a new website. ==Senior finals==