Southern Steel co-captain Jenny-May Coffin is still hurting from her side's opening-round 11-goal loss to the NSW Swifts in Sydney last week.
But she is confident the Invercargill-based franchise will bounce back against the Central Pulse in Wellington tonight.
The 34-year-old television sports presenter was outspoken after her side's defeat.
The Steel traded goals with the Swifts and was locked 23-23 at half-time. But a disastrous quarter, in which the Steel was outscored 7-16, crushed its hopes of starting the ANZ Championship with a win.
‘‘Where do I start?'' Coffin replied, when asked what went wrong. ‘‘Obviously, we had a really good half, then after the half there were a couple of substitutions made.
‘‘I think that was partly the reason [we fell away], but certainly not all of it. The umpire became more involved in the match and poor old Katrina Grant pretty much just got whistled out of the quarter.
‘‘But you can't win a game if you're throwing the ball away.''
While the Steel struggled to adjust to the changes made at half-time, the Swifts pulled away to win comfortably.
But Coffin thought her side showed enough to suggest it will improve and be a force in the inaugural competition.
However, the Otago-Southland combined side does face a few issues. With its squad scattered to the wind, getting together to practise as often as it would like is not possible.
Coffin and Daneka Wipiiti are based in Auckland, shooter Megan Dehn lives in Sydney, and Jessica Tuki, Liana Barrett-Chase, Debbie White and Katrina Grant all commute from Dunedin.
The side usually gets together three days before a match for an intense training period While it is far from ideal, the team has decided not to make it an issue
‘‘We have talked about this and have said - and I've been criticised for saying this - but I don't think it is an excuse we can use.
‘‘The reason I said that is because we made it a policy We're not going to talk about it and we're not going to use it as an excuse. We just have to get on with the job.
‘‘Whether it has an impact on the team, I'll leave that up to others to judge.''
The Pulse is also a combined side formed from the Wellington Shakers and Flyers. It suffered a big loss to the Melbourne Vixens in the competition's opening match and, on paper, looks one of the weaker units.
Star English defender Sonia Mkoloma bolsters a defensive circle which includes former Otago Rebels' player of the year Kahurangi Waititi. Former Sting player Hayley Crofts joins experienced campaigner Frances Solia in the mid-court and New Zealand under-21 squad member Susan Tagicakibau and Jamilah Gupwell will do the lion's share of the shooting.
- The Canterbury Tactix remained at the top of the championship table after a 50-44 win over the Swifts in Christchurch on Saturday.
They now join the Vixens and the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic as competition leaders part way through the second round. The Vixens beat the Queensland Firebirds 62-53 yesterday, while the Magic beat the Northern Mystics 56-52 in Rotorua.
