Wilkins played for the struggling Tactix last year but is back playing her netball for the Steel this season.
The two sides play in Christchurch on Sunday and Wilkins is wary of her former side, which had a fighting 54-51 win against the New South Wales Swifts.
"After watching Monday night's game, we can expect that they won't give in," Wilkins said.
"I thought they were down and out going into the last quarter but they proved me wrong and closed out the game whereas in the past they have not been able to close games out.
"So they are coming off a great performance and it is always tough playing teams at their home venue."
The Steel is at the other end of the spectrum. It had an impressive win against the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic in the opening round but was curiously flat five days later against the Central Pulse in Napier, losing 47-42.
"To be honest, I don't know what went wrong. You have to give credit to the Pulse ... They are not the easy-beats any more.
"I felt fine going into the game but it had been a short week and it was such a massive game against the Magic at home in Invercargill and in front of a really good crowd.
"But when you look back at that game, we made a lot of mistakes even though we had a fantastic win. It was a great start to the season but there were still a lot of errors we need to hone in on and I guess it was turnovers which let us down against the Pulse.
"You can't go into this competition and throw the ball away and expect to win games. That was the main thing which let us down."
Wilkins is pleased with her form. She is still making her way back to full fitness after the birth of her third child in January. Her tenacity in the opening game was the main reason the Steel was able to upset the Magic.
"Obviously, you always want to be fitter and faster and play better but I'm quite happy with where I'm at, at the moment."
Her combination with Jodi Brown in the shooting circle is a work in progress. The duo combined well in the opening game but the match against the Pulse did not go as smoothly.
The pair have traded bibs, switching from goal attack to goal shoot when co-coaches Janine Southby and Natalie Avellino have wanted to make changes.
Wilkins was not sure which bib she would start in against the Tactix when asked yesterday but did not see it as a deal-breaker.
"Good question. I don't know. We both want to be on the court and it is up to the coaches as to where they want to put us.
"If I had to pick I'd always say goal attack, but Jodi and I interchange a lot anyway so it is probably not a big issue whether you've got the goal shoot or goal attack bib on.
"I think our combination is coming along quite nicely. We seem to be able to read what each other is doing which is great, and I think we have a good connection in there.
"Hopefully, it will improve as well but we probably did not connect as well in the Pulse game and, once we got down, we needed to talk a bit more. That is something we've addressed and will work on at training."
