Rumours persist Invercargill's Natalie Avellino is poised to be dumped as co-coach, leaving Dunedin's Janine Southby in sole charge.
The Steel board will meet on Tuesday when Bannister will present his recommendations to the board based on an independent season review carried out by Rugby Southland general manager Brian Hopley.
Initially, when asked yesterday if Avellino's position was under threat, Bannister implied her job was safe.
"I don't envisage me sacking Natalie at all," he responded.
However, he rang back moments later to "clarify" his position, and seemingly contradicted his earlier comments.
"If there are going to be any changes to the coaching structure which emerge from the review, it is yet to be seen what they will be. And it is certainly not something I'm willing to speculate on."
He was more candid earlier, though. Asked how the co-coaching arrangement worked this season, Bannister said it was a unique situation which had both benefits and flaws.
"It was something innovative that we tried."
Did it work?
"Certain aspects, most certainly. It gave good exposure to each of the major centres. They had elite coaching on their doorstep.
"There were a couple of things which were challenging in relation to it."
Financial considerations, for example, come into play. It is not hard to work out paying one coach instead of two makes sense when there are significant budgetary constraints.
The Steel expects to return a small surplus at the end of the current financial period but the franchise's financial battles have been well documented.
In February, Steel chairwoman Janet Copeland described the financial position as "grim".
Netball Southland and Southern TeamCo, the company name for the Steel, recorded a consolidated deficit of $230,751 for the financial year ending November 30.
The poor financial result meant the Steel was forced into a policy of developing local talent.
Big savings were made in player payments but performances on court dropped away, with the franchise finishing the season with 10 consecutive losses.
Coaches tend to be a handy scapegoat when the side is not winning.
"There are advantages and disadvantages [in having co-coaches] and we have to weigh up which one outweighs what. We will know more after Tuesday night."
Avellino said she had been hurt by the rumours.
As far as she was aware, she still had a job and was looking forward to helping the Steel climb the competition ladder next season.
"I haven't been told that I'm not involved, so I not sure where that has come from," she said.
"I'd like to know who is starting these things because they are not very nice and I don't appreciate people saying these things."
If Southby does fly solo next year, it will create an awful dilemma for the franchise.
Southby has a young family and is based in Dunedin, and presumably the bulk of the Steel's training would be done in Dunedin.
But the lion's share of the Steel's funding is sourced through the Invercargill Licensing Trust, whose mandate dictates the team would need to be based in Invercargill in order to receive funding.
