Playing a genuine home game is something Gina Crampton does not get to do all that often.
One of four Dunedin-based players in the Southern Steel, the wing attack has to travel two and a-half hours south to Invercargill for the majority of her home games.
She will get the opportunity to take the court without making that trip when the Steel plays the Mainland Tactix at the Edgar Centre in Dunedin tomorrow.However, those road trips were something she was prepared to do to keep living in Dunedin, seven years after arriving.
"Love it," the 25-year-old said about living in the city.
"People sort of ask me ‘why are you still here when you’ve finished studying?’ But I’ve got no reason to leave.
"The netball’s really good. I’ve started a bit of a life down here.
"I’m sure I won’t be here forever, but in the meantime I’m pretty happy."
Crampton originally came south from Wellington in 2010 to study physical education at the University of Otago.
After two years she cross-credited her papers and completed her study in personal training at the Otago Polytechnic.
Having cracked the Steel in 2012, she spent her first seasons finding her feet at the top level.
In 2015 she began getting regular court time, before having a breakout season last year.
After winning Netball New Zealand’s ANZ Premiership player of the year award and debuting for the Silver Ferns last year, she has backed that up with some outstanding form this season.
Yet she still feels she could be doing things better.
"I guess just trying to keep that consistency, not disappear for a few minutes in a quarter. And be a presence out on court, be someone my shooters can rely on and put my hand up as a good middie [midcourter]."
Getting back into that Silver Ferns team is a goal, although not her primary focus.
For now she is concentrating on the Steel, which has won seven games in a row and rarely been challenged.
While much has been said about the team’s dominance, it was not buying into the hype and knew any team could challenge it at any time.
That can be easy to say, although the reality of responding in those tough situations is often another matter.
Crampton thought the Steel had done that well when it had to, though, and hoped it would be rise to other challenges as the season went on.
"I feel like the [Central] Pulse sort of did that to us in the first half [on Monday]. They really challenged us physically and game-wise.
"They shut down a lot of our options and made it a really hard task for us, which we probably haven’t had that much lately.
"So that was good for us. We need it [a tough game] and I hope that we get it again. It’s got to be good for us."
Crampton said she was enjoying the new ANZ Premiership, but did concede that it would nice for the Steel to test itself against the Australian teams.
However, she also thought it would add the element of mystery to the Silver Ferns’ encounters against Australia later in the year.
"I think a lot of us were quite disappointed that we didn’t get to play the Australians.
"It’s always a good battle and I think that we would have tested a lot of their teams. I think we would have been right up there.
"Last year we lost to a couple of the teams, but we certainly beat a couple as well. So I think this year, just with that added time together and that extra flow, that we would have been all right against them and it would have been awesome to see how we’d get on."
Midway through its 15-match season, the Steel is hot favourite to extend its unbeaten season with an eighth consecutive win. It comes up against a Tactix team which has a new coach, but one which has yet to win this season.
The last time the sides met the Steel delivered a record-breaking 90-41 win, although Crampton said players were not taking this game lightly.
The doors open at 1pm, with centre pass set for 2pm.
The South Beko League team plays Mainland at 4pm straight afterwards.
