Waiting at the traffic lights is bad enough. Queues are worse but nothing compares to the wait the Steel must endure.
The combined Otago-Southland team finished the ANZ Championship round-robin phase with a 55-48 win against the Swifts in Invercargill on Saturday.
But the question is: will it be enough to reach the semifinals?The Steel's hopes hinge on the outcome of the Firebirds-Fever game in Perth tonight.
The Steel and the Firebirds are battling to join the Magic, Vixens and Thunderbirds in the play-offs, and if the Fever beats the Firebirds, it will be the Steel that advances.
If the Firebirds win, though, the calculators will come out and the team with the superior goal percentage will move on.
Goal percentage is the team's total goals scored minus goals conceded multiplied by 100.
The Steel has scored 662 while conceding 645 (102.64%).
The Firebirds have scored 646 and conceded 638 (101.25%).
The more goals the Firebirds concede, the more they will have to win by to improve their goal percentage enough to secure the remaining semifinal berth.
For example, if the Firebirds win 60-50 their goal percentage would rise to 102.62%, but they would miss out by just 0.02%.
If they win 50-40 they would sneak in by 0.01%.
The Steel has every right to feel confident.
While the Firebirds beat the Fever 56-53 in Brisbane in round six, the long trip to Perth robs players of their vitality.
Winning by 10 goals might be too big an ask.
If the Steel gets through, the players can feel safe in the knowledge they have found the kind of form which could see them upset the more fancied teams like the Magic and Vixens.
The seven-goal win over the Swifts was not as polished as the nine-goal drubbing of the Thunderbirds in Dunedin last month, but it was another step up for shooter Donna Wilkins.
Wilkins made a slow start to the ANZ Championship but has found her range since the pregnant Daneka Wipiiti pulled out three weeks ago.
She landed 36 off her 38 attempts and her combination with Megan Dehn continues to flourish.
Experienced defender Megan Hutton had one of her better games this season.
It was also her last game at Stadium Southland.
Hutton is retiring following the ANZ Championship but reckons her battered body can get her through the play-offs if need be.
"I hope so," she joked. `I'll do what I can to get my body through it. It is a bit of a mission at the moment but I know there is an end in sight."
Hutton plans to head overseas and will also need surgery on her knee.
She has a torn meniscus in her left knee.
The team has plans to watch the Firebirds-Fever match at coach Robyn Broughton's place.
"We'll probably get together around at Robbie's and watch it with no distractions and laugh, cry, scream, do whatever we have to do. Hopefully, it will go our way. The Fever should be able to do it because they've got the home advantage. If it does go the Firebirds' way, let's hope it is by just a few goals."
Steel 55 (Donna Wilkins 36 from 38, Megan Dehn 19/23), Swifts 48 (Catherine Cox 29/35, Susan Pratley 19/25).
Quarter 17-10. half-time 30-22, third quarter 40-34.
