The Southern Steel suffered the heaviest defeat in their trans-Tasman netball league history, crushed 48-31 by the Melbourne Vixens in Melbourne today.
It was a performance that confirms the unbeaten Vixens as the best of the Australian sides through the opening month of the ANZ Championship while the highly rated Steel clearly have work to do to match the best teams in the competition.
The attacking duo of Daneka Wipiiti and Donna Wilkins, who were so fluent in last weekend's defeat of the Tactix, had no answer to the suffocating one-on-one defence of Bianca Chatfield and Julie Corletto while the Vixens' attack grew in confidence after a sluggish start.
Some physical work from the New Zealanders knocked the slick Vixens off their stride in the opening exchanges as they opened up a 9-6 lead.
However, the hosts adjusted and went on an 18-4 run that effectively killed the match as a contest.
The first quarter lead was 14-11 while that advantage extended to 29-19 at halftime and 40-24 at the three-quarter mark, with the visiting attack hitting its nadir with just five goals during the third stanza.
Steel captain Adine Wilson didn't hide from the scale of the loss.
"We really back ourselves and we were really disappointed. It was a good, old-fashioned hiding out there, I would say," she said.
"You've got to learn from each game and we know next time we cross the Tasman we've just got to be exceptionally tough." Momentum had already swung Melbourne's way when Wipiiti hyper-extended her knee early in the second quarter. The key goal shoot struggled with her movement for the remainder of the game although she remained on court, the Steel clearly confident the injury won't affect her availability over coming weeks.
A hobbling Wipiiti did well to shoot 21 from 30 while Wilkins, who was frustrated all game with the close attention, was restricted to 10 from 16.
There was no such difficulties at the Melbourne attacking end, where Australian centre Natasha Chokljat fed outstandingly. Goal attack Sharelle McMahon was at her clever best, shooting 21 from 28 while more stationary goal shoot Caitlin Thwaites managed 27 from 35, mainly from close range.
Coach Robyn Broughton made just one change at halftime, injecting Erika Burgess for Wendy Telfer at wing defence. It worked to a degree, with the Vixens' goalscoring reduced from 29 to 19 goals in the second spell.
The Steel's previous biggest loss was by 13 to the Adelaide Thunderbirds, also in round four across the Tasman, in the inaugural competition last year.
Today's goal tally was comfortably their lowest. Their previous worst was 41, which they achieved three times in last year's competition.
A highlight of the match was the latest duel in the decade-long rivalry between McMahon and Silver Ferns defender Sheryl Scanlan. There was no quarter given, with their bodies colliding on numerous occasions although Scanlan certainly suffered most at the hands of the umpires.
