Alicia Scholes hits back at critics after London Pulse edge LexisNexis Dragons in physical Netball Super League battle

London Pulse wing attack Alicia Scholes hit back at criticism of her on social media following the 2025 champions' narrow victory over LexisNexis Dragons.

Last season's treble winners faced last year's bottom-placed side with Pulse securing victory by a single point with a 51-50 win on Friday night.

But in what was a very physical game with 96 penalties called, Scholes felt the brunt of the criticism for a push against LexisNexis Dragons' Victoria Booth in the final quarter.

Scholes took to her Instagram to address those criticising her, responding to some tweets, and posting the infamous message of former Manchester City forward Mario Balotelli - 'Why Always Me?'

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"So you can get constantly shoved for 60 minutes off the ball then one push back and that's all people want to talk about," Scholes wrote.

"Twitter please talk about how good Jacqui Newton was or something. Bored to tears of seeing my name on that app.

"To the nice people, I love you so much.

"I'll read anything and never care, but you lot have my mum crashing out.

"She's 50 guys, she doesn't need the stress and she's sensitive."

The 24-year-old expressed feeling targeted for her actions while the physicality of play from others was ignored.

Throughout the game it was evident that both sides were pushing the limits on 'non-contact' as many teams have done in recent years as the physicality of netball has grown.

Lisa Alexander, who had coached the Australian Diamonds for nine years and won two world cups, also took to X to briefly express her thoughts that the debate online had been unfairly focused on Scholes.

Another notable moment that was highlighted was when Dragons' Georgia Rowe appeared to grab Darcie Everitt's ankle after the pair clashed while contesting for the ball late on.

Evolution of the physicality of netball

Prior to this weekend's games London Mavericks head coach Tamsin Greenway and former England head coach Tracey Neville discussed how the physicality of netball has developed both in the NSL and internationally on Sky Sports' Off The Court podcast.

"If you're going to make contact, make sure it's worthwhile, a really good one, just make sure it's worthwhile," Neville said.

"Players now, man up, 60 minutes, they love it. I absolutely love that challenge, that build up, that momentum.

"That's what the game wants to see.

"If you'd have seen our changing room prior to going out on an Suncorp Super Netball court, there was rugby bags in there.

"If you look at the midcourt when they're preparing now at the international level, and to be honest I didn't really hone in on other teams, but particularly us, we're grappling.

"A lot of our warmup is about grappling, ways of getting your arms out, ways of making yourself available, moving away."

(c) Sky Sports 2026: Alicia Scholes hits back at critics after London Pulse edge LexisNexis Dragons in physical Netball Super League battle