Sunday 11 June 2017 19:26, UK
Loughborough Lightning, Wasps, Manchester Thunder and Team Bath will battle it out for the right to be 2017 Vitality Superleague champions in Birmingham this weekend, live on Sky Sports Mix.
After a summer of change, the 10-team competition has thrown up 18 weeks of regular season drama which has left the top four progressing through to Finals weekend.
Loughborough Lightning and Team Bath meet in the first semi-final on Saturday from 3.30pm with Wasps and Manchester Thunder following from 5.45pm - the winners will then contest Sunday's Grand Final (4.30pm), with the losers meeting in the play-off for third place.
It promises to be a memorable and poignant weekend with the event switched to Birmingham from Manchester Arena after the terror attacks at the venue on May 22.
England Netball confirmed the move last week: "Whilst all parties would have loved to have hosted the Final Four in Manchester, it was unclear whether there would be enough time to allow event preparations to be finalised following the awful attack in the city.
"It is therefore with a heavy heart that we are moving to an alternative venue."
So with the four best teams in the country remaining, we preview both matches
Regular Season - Loughborough Lightning 49-40 Team Bath (Week 10); Team Bath 41-47 Loughborough Lightning (Week 3)
Lightning head into Finals weekend as favourites having won 17 of their 18 regular season games but they face the team who burst into the top four on the back of seven wins from their final eight games.
Team Bath are play-off stalwarts having made the semi-finals in all but one season and, despite defeat to Wasps on the final day, Surrey's loss to Loughborough meant Team Bath were in.
Having finished fourth, they will face Lightning, the only team they have not beaten this season, and director of netball Jess Thirlby says the players are determined to put that right.
"We haven't played them since our turn of form so we are looking forward to playing them and putting up one of our second-half performances, we were flat on both occasions," she told Sky Sports.
As for Karen Atkinson's regular season winner, they have dropped their only points to Wasps in Week 12.
Despite their dominance throughout the campaign, Atkinson knows all four teams pose a considerable threat this weekend.
"They are all dangerous which is testament to where the Superleague has come," Atkinson told Sky Sports.
There were concerns as well as excitement about the expansion at the start of the year but it has paid off with 10 competitive teams.
Regular Season - Manchester Thunder 44-58 Wasps (Week 15); Wasps 52-58 Manchester Thunder (Week 6)
Wasps have marked a debut season in the Superleague with a fine performance to finish second and, with a team full of experience, they will have high hopes of continuing their fairy tale.
Tamsin Greenway's team have coped well with their injury problems to suffer just four defeats, one of those came at the hands of Thunder, and the Wasps director of netball is not underestimating their last-four opponents.
"Thunder have won the league a few times and were in the final last year," she told Sky Sports.
"They will give themselves the underdog tag but I don't believe that for one second. They lost a lot of players but have real quality and players who have been playing as long as I have!
"Liana Leota and Joyce Mvula are real quality they are all good players and we will not be taking them for granted."
Thunder head into the weekend on the back of a memorable season that has seen them bounce back from two defeats in their opening two games to lose just three of their remaining six matches.
With a much changed and new-look squad, Karen Greig has blended experience with youth and the prospect of two game in two days will not faze them.
"Mentally some of the girls have done this before, back in 2012 the competition was very similar, when I played we played a semi-final on Saturday and the final on Sunday," she told Sky Sports.
"Kerry (Almond) Emma (Dovey) and Kathryn (Turner) were all there and are used to it so having them knowing all about it will be crucial."
You can follow all the action from Finals weekend on Sky Sports Mix with both semi-finals live from 3.30pm on Saturday and the final live on Sunday from 4.30pm
