The recruitment battle is heating up, with new eligibility rules which will even the playing field.
The five New Zealand teams will no longer have to apply to Netball New Zealand if they want to include an overseas-based player.
That will put them on an equal footing with the five Australian teams, which will now operate under the same rules.
Steel chief executive Julie Paterson welcomed the rule change.
`I've said from day one the rules should apply exactly the same to both countries, so I'm very pleased that it has been resolved.
I think it is going to work out well for the New Zealand teams because we have been disadvantaged," she said.
The Adelaide Thunderbirds won the title this season with two overseas players on their roster - English defender Geva Mentor and Jamaican shooter Carla Borrego.
Rulings over eligibility, particularly on this side of the Tasman have been inconsistent, to say the least.
The injured-plagued Canterbury Tactix had its request to replace Australian defender Peta Stephens with an overseas player denied, while the Silver Fern-laden Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic got the go-ahead to replace injured Australian defender Peta Scholz with England international Jade Clarke.
Those types of incon- sistencies appear to be in the past, with all 10 teams now free to contract, as of a right, one overseas player.
The Steel appears intent on re-signing former Australian shooter Megan Dehn. The 35-year-old, though, is still weighing up her options and will make a decision within the next week or so, Paterson said.
"Megan is still having a bit of a think about what she would like to do next year and we are just working through that process with her."
Former Silver Ferns defender Anna Scarlett is returning to the sport, after abandoning her dream to play beach volleyball at the Olympics.
Her services are in hot demand with the Northern Mystics, Tactix and Steel all seeking her signature.
"We are in the process of having conversations with Anna," Paterson confirmed.
"But at the same time we are talking to our current players and trying to get those secured and shored up for next year.
"We have to have the first cut of our team named by September. But ideally we want to have our [marquee] players sorted out by the end of the month."
