That used to be a very easy sell. Until last season, Southern struggled to foot it with the teams in the top half of the competition.
But it surprised everyone by reaching the final of the National Hockey League last year and is hoping to at least match that effort next week.
Southern has started the season well, with wins against Canterbury and Capital, and will have an opportunity to revenge its loss to Auckland in the 2012 final when the tournament resumes in North Harbour today.
Auckland is stacked with talent but Southern is not short on class, either, with Black Sticks Hugo Inglis, Blair Tarrant, Kane Russell, Hamish McGregor and Nick Ross, and Australian international Eddie Ockenden, forming the base of a top side.
Ross, though, was keen to play down his side's star power, insisting Auckland, also with a 2-0 record, was still the benchmark.
''They've got Ryan Archibald coming back and Dean Couzins. Between them they must have 500 tests. You're basically playing the New Zealand side,'' Ross said.
''I think everyone is picking them to win it. But we look forward to those challenges. I'm just happy the whole team is contributing.
''We've worked really hard to improve the next layer of the player base, so it is not just about the Black Sticks.
"Obviously, it is good having those quality players there but, to be honest, at this level you need more than four or five Black Sticks if the rest of your team is useless, otherwise you are still going to lose.
''That is what we found out in the weekend. It is not just about your superstars - it is about everyone doing their job around them as well.''
Southern beat Canterbury 2-1 in Timaru on Saturday and backed up the following day with a 4-3 win over Capital in Wellington.
Initial reports said Inglis scored a hat trick, including the game-winning goal, in the win over Capital. However, Ross said Inglis was off the field at that stage and it was Nick Ross who scored the winner.
Inglis has glandular fever and is being used sparingly. With five games in the next six days, and then hopefully a semifinal and a final to play next weekend, fitness and maintaining intensity will be a key to success.
''We can't run Hugo as hard and long as we probably want. We have to manage him through the tournament. He goes hard while he is on but we have to make sure we don't burn him out.''
Ross believes his side needs to win two of its next three games to get into a good position to make a run for the semifinals.
Southern plays Midlands (1-1) tomorrow and North Harbour (1-1) on Monday, and rounds out the round-robin stage with a game against Central (0-2) on Wednesday and Northland on Thursday (0-2).
