New Zealand and Otago pace bowler Ian Butler has signed with English county Gloucestershire as its second overseas player for the domestic twenty/20 championship.
The Steel might have to cut its Christmas holiday short with the ANZ Championship scheduled for a February start next year.
The Otago Nuggets crashed to a 99-70 loss to the Manawatu Jets in Palmerston North last night.
It could come down to goal percentage again, but former Silver Fern and Sting shooter Tania Dalton is predicting the Steel will nab the final ANA Championship play-off spot.
With an ounce more luck, the Southern Stampede might have claimed its third national league title in five years last year.
The Otago Nuggets are well practised at stretching optimism to its limits.
Participation is a word you want to use sparingly when talking to Dunedin Thunder coach James van Leeuwen.
Edgar Centre manager Blair Crawford is confident the centre will overcome an ongoing issue with a leaky roof and find a way to raise the $250,000 needed to add a further two wooden courts.
In case you had forgotten, the Melbourne Vixens won the ANZ Championship last year.
Can they do it? Yes, they can. The Otago Nuggets are just four losses away from a winless season.
Steel coach Robyn Broughton believes the Melbourne Vixens will be a much tougher opponent if centre Natasha Chokljat takes the court in the crucial round 11 match at the Edgar Centre tomorrow night.
Melbourne Vixens co-captain Sharelle McMahon is at a loss to pinpoint what has gone wrong in the last month or so.
Otago Nuggets captain Sam To'omata is planning to kick the pedestal out from beneath Paul Henare.
Nothing tests team unity like failure. And after 12 consecutive losses, the question is whether the Otago Nuggets are beginning to fray around the edges.
The dream is still alive. The Southern Steel revived its play-off hopes with a stunning upset win against the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic in Invercargill last night.
Dunedin osteopath and physiotherapist Jim Webb spent 10 years patching up English Premier League players but is now content kicking the ball around the backyard with his five boys.
Stalemate. The four unbeaten sides in the Highlanders First XV competition had to be content with draws in the weekend.
Perhaps it is time the Otago Nuggets found something else to do in the weekend.
It is still under construction but Rugby New Zealand 2011 Ltd chief executive Martin Snedden described the Forsyth Barr Stadium as stunning.
If you are reading this thinking 'I must get some tickets for the last test at Carisbrook before they all sell out' you might be too late.
