Southern Steel coach Reinga Bloxham is realistic and knows her side still has plenty of work ahead, but she remains optimistic about their potential once they click.
Despite losing every game — 60-53 to the Tactix, 56-40 to the Mystics, 44-28 to the Magic and 49-29 to the Pulse — at the preseason Southern Showdown in Dunedin at the weekend, there were good signs among all the games.
Bloxham felt they started started well against the Tactix on Friday and produced three great quarters, and had a good half against the Mystics on Saturday morning.
Their game against the Magic on Saturday afternoon was disappointing, as the Steel struggled to fire and they were "hit-and-miss" against the Pulse yesterday.
But yesterday’s loss was possibly more of a reflection of the Steel losing shooter Jen O’Connell and Ivari Christie to concussion through the weekend.
O’Connell was take out by friendly-fire having clashed heads with Jeante Strydom against the Mystics, while Christie took some big hits in the same game and her symptoms developed overnight Sunday.
Captain Kate Heffernan is nursing an Achilles niggle but is expected to be back training in the next fortnight, and Shannon Saunders, who is tracking well after a knee complaint, did not play this weekend either.
"It’s been good," Bloxham said about the Southern Showdown.
"It’s been a good test to see where we’re at against other teams, but ... I still believe that the potential’s there.
"It’s been good to watch others and see ... what they’re doing."
"For us, we’ve still got so many people to come back in. But I’m really happy that we’ve still got a few weeks before the first game because we’ve got a few things that we need to work on."
Training partners Emilie Nicholson and Grace Southby and apprentice partners Ella Southby and Isabella Galvan all played some big minutes throughout the weekend and impressed Bloxham.
"I thought our young training partners, and those NNL girls, have done extremely well to step up and fill-in," Bloxham said.
"In that last quarter [against the Pulse], I thought they did some really good things."
The Steel play their opening ANZ Premiership game against the Tactix in Christchurch on April 15.
