Lauren Palmer says her players massively underperformed, a claim backed up by defender Cassie Howard, as they slumped to a heavy defeat to Netball Super League powerhouse Loughborough Lightning on Friday.

Lightning have competed in the Grand Final every year since 2021 and although it is early days in the 2026 campaign, this year is shaping up to be the same after winning 70-43 against the Rhinos.

Palmer’s Rhinos began the season with a run to the semi-finals of the Super Cup and a win at Birmingham Panthers.

But with ambitions of making the top four out of eight teams, they suffered a reality check at the Canon Medical Arena.

Leeds Rhinos have won one, lost one to start the Netball Super League season (Picture: Matt McNulty/Getty Images for England Netball)

placeholder image — Leeds Rhinos have won one, lost one to start the Netball Super League season (Picture: Matt McNulty/Getty Images for England Netball)

“We are obviously gutted and disappointed, it's not what we wanted to put out today. In our opinion we all know we massively underperformed and Lightning are a top team,” said Palmer.

“They were brilliant, but for us it's round two, this one game is not going to define us and if anything it is going to give us a massive kick up the backside to come out fighting against Nottingham Forest next week.”

The match started off with the lead constantly changing hands, showing the strengths of both teams as the first quarter ended 17-17.

With the crowd chanting “let’s go Rhinos, let’s go,” the Leeds team fought hard to keep the scores even, but Lightning finished the first half ahead 37-24 and never looked back

Rhinos’ wing defence Howard said: “I think we know we are a lot better than that and we have got more to give.

“I think we let them take it away in that second quarter and couldn't break the momentum in the way that we wanted to so there are a lot of learning points to take from that game.”

However, the Rhinos are not letting their first loss of the season dampen their spirits, chosing to focus on the lesson it provides as they move forward in the season.

Palmer added: “It is going to be a tough week ahead for everyone and we've already had a little conversation on the court but we'll debrief we go again, it's sport, it happens but I am glad it happened now, this is a big wake up call in the group.

“We drew the first quarter so that's a massive positive, so it's looking at what we did well there and just seeing if we can bring that consistency across 60 minutes.”

As the team looks towards their away match against Nottingham Forest on March 15, they remain confident about their goal to finish in the top four in season, after placing seventh last year.

“I feel like we can take any team that we come up against and it's just looking at what we need to work on from this week,” added Howard.