Former Silver Fern Donna Wilkins launched her elite level coaching career in the best possible fashion after steering VIP Frames and Trusses Tactix to a 57-50 win over a dogged Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel in Christchurch on Sunday.
Take a look at the opening match-ups of the 2025 ANZ Premiership.
Wendy Frew had no problems winning titles as a player, her challenge now to fashion a similar outcome as she steps into the role of head coach for Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel in the 2025 ANZ Premiership.
With exciting new rule innovations, the ANZ Premiership is set to take its first centre pass for 2025 on TVNZ, with Saturdays live and free on TVNZ+ and TVNZ 2.
Based in Invercargill, the Steel were formed in 2007 and represent the Netball South Zone which embraces Southland and Otago.
The Steel resulted from the merger between two former National Bank Cup teams, the Southern Sting and Otago Rebels. The Steel subsequently becoming a founding team when netball launched into the semi-professional era with the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship in 2008.
Robyn Broughton was appointed the team’s first coach with Jenny-May Coffin and Megan Hutton named as co-captains.
The Steel had their best season in the final year of the ANZ Championship in 2016 when they won the minor premiership but subsequently lost the New Zealand Conference Final.
The Steel celebrated the introduction of the new elite ANZ Premiership domestic league in 2017 in style when claiming the inaugural title, completing a 16-match season unbeaten. They retained the title in 2018.
The Steel’s playing strip contains a mix of the burgundy/cerise and blue colours of Southland and Otago. The team’s home venues are ILT Stadium Southland, in Invercargill and the Edgar Centre, in Dunedin.
