For a start, all the core players got a rest and, best of all, the combined Otago-Southland team held on to fourth spot despite not featuring in round five of the ANZ Championships.
"All the teams we were level with lost so that was pretty good," Steel co-coach Natalie Avellino said.
The West Coast Fever and Central Pulse (both 4 points) could have gone ahead of the Steel (4) but lost home games to the Adelaide Thunderbirds and Northern Mystics respectively. The Melbourne Vixens lead the competition with 10 points from the Thunder-birds (8) and the Mystics (8).
The remaining seven teams are separated by just two points but the Steel enjoys a superior goal percentage, hence its spot in the top four.
Holding on to that position will be a huge challenge for the southerners. The Steel has never won an ANZ Championship game in Australia and will travel to Adelaide to play the Thunderbirds on Monday night.
The Thunderbirds recorded an impressive 48-36 win against the Fever in Perth on Sunday, whereas the Steel suffered a damaging 56-53 loss to the same opposition in Dunedin late last month.
However, Avellino believes her side matches up well against the Thunderbirds.
"The Thunderbirds looked quite good against the Fever," she acknowledged.
"They have performed well this year so this week won't be easy for us. It is a tough game but one we are quite looking forward to because there is certainly some areas we can compete with them in.
"I think our attack end, even though we've thrown a bit of ball away in that area, is a strength. Our combination of Jodi [Brown] and Donna [Wilkins] has been working quite well.
"Defending them will be tough work for the Thunder-birds and our defensive combination is starting to work well. And I think we've got the speed and the strength to match their midcourt. They have a bit more height but we've got a pretty tall team as well."
The Steel will train in Gore tonight and will meet up in Christchurch on Saturday to fly to Sydney and on to Adelaide.
"You can adjust pretty quickly to the time difference [2hrs 30min] but we will be training later than normal to help the girls adjust."
The Steel has lost 11 consecutive games in Australia.
The last time it played the Thunderbirds in Adelaide the result was one-sided with the home side winning 53-36. The 17-goal drubbing is the Steel's equal-heaviest defeat.
"We are a new group so you can't really compare us with the Steel teams from the past.
"Our training structures and things like that, I'm sure, are a lot different to what they've done in the past," Avellino said.
"So we're not looking at what has happened in the past.
"We're just looking at how we can best cope and deal with the challenge. We're trying to approach it like every other away game."
The Steel approaches the season in blocks of four games.
While the next assignment is extremely difficult, the side has three consecutive home games after that to look forward to.
The results of those games will determine whether this group can push its claims for spot in the play-offs or not.
