Core values at the heart of Steel challenge

With a winning mentality ingrained in their culture, the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel have a habit of rising to the occasion and that all-too familiar mindset remains front and centre for 2022.

An inexperienced Steel lit up the league last year, exceeding many predictions with their enterprising play on attack and trademark resilience to deliver the goods while showing little regard for opposing reputations.

“When we had our first values session this season, the players who have been in our environment previously don’t actually talk about us winning, they just expect it,” Steel coach Reinga Bloxham said.

With three new personnel for 2022, the most significant changes for the Steel come at the shooting end. After a sensational debut season, England import George Fisher returns as the scoring anchor under the hoop.

The new faces in the attacking circle will be Georgia Heffernan, who makes a return from serious injury and spending last season on the sideline, and promising young shooting talent Saviour Tui, who has had limited opportunities at the elite level but excelled in the National Netball League. Heffernan will play alongside her midcourt twin sister Kate.

“We’ve got Saviour who is so strong in the air, excels in an aerial game and is also a really accurate shooter,” Bloxham said.

“Then we’ve got Georgia, who is quite a nippy player and moves well, and there’s George Fisher at the back who’s quite unorthodox in some of the things that she does, so I think it just gives us that variety and a little bit of the unknown for the opposition which will be a strength for us.”

At the other end of the court, the Steel have welcomed a handy recruit in defender Kate Burley, who delivered an impressive 2021 campaign with the title-winning Mystics.

“Kate is quick off the mark, has great closing speed, is young and vibrant and is really looking forward to the challenge of working with two other defenders that she hasn’t worked with before,” Bloxham said.

“She’s still learning the ropes in terms of the Steel’s style of defence but I think her speed and agility is the key thing I’m looking for.”

With seven players retained from last season and experienced heads in each third, including Fisher, Shannon Sanders, Kate Heffernan and stalwart Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit, the Steel have a settled core and solid foundation.

“The newcomers have had a seamless entry into our environment and I’ve sort of forgotten they’re new and haven’t been here very long,” Bloxham said.

Coming into its sixth season, the standards of the ANZ Premiership have continued to rise and Bloxham is expecting more of the same for the 2022 edition.

“There’s been a bit of player movement as well and I think that adds for an element of excitement in not knowing exactly what teams are going to bring to the table but I’m expecting it to be just as tough as it was last year,” she said.

“There won’t be any easy matches, you’ll have to be on your best game the whole time, otherwise you just get knocked out.”

Nothing has changed on the expectation front with Bloxham gunning for a top three spot and the opportunity to be in Grand Finals contention.