Getting a men’s team back up and running is the next step for new franchise owners Toni Wall and Damian Burden.
But, more immediately, there is a finals weekend to focus on for the newly formed Southern Sharks.
The Sharks laid down an impressive marker during the opening stage of the league in Wellington at the weekend.
They won all four games and have already secured a spot in the semifinals with one round robin game remaining.
The second leg will be in Auckland on November 12 and 13.
The Sharks will play the Northern Strikers before a semifinal and, hopefully, final.
Burden was thrilled with how the side performed.
It was personally rewarding as well given the effort that went in to get the team together, he said.
"Because of Covid, it has been a few years since there has been an event.
"As a South Island group, we’d been under the banner of Te Waipounamu.
"It had to fold due to financial restrictions, so Toni Wall and myself put in a bid for a franchise to get the women’s team back in the competition.
"We just did the women’s team because we felt we could just manage the one team this year," Burden said.
The Sharks were mostly made up of Otago athletes, but includes "a couple from Southland and Canterbury as well".
The Sharks have a squad of 20.
Touch Blacks Meg Sycamore and Atawhai Hotene co-captain the team, and Dayna Turnbull — who is the most capped Otago athlete for the Touch Blacks — has returned from a major knee injury and also from starting a family.
"She was back playing in her first tournament and was outstanding. She was probably our player of the tournament," Burden said.
The Sharks played the Manukau Raiders first up and won 11-3.
That was revenge in a way. The Raiders beat Te Waipounamu in the final two years ago.
The Sharks dispatched Metro (Auckland) 11-1, but the fixture against the Heat (Waikato) was tightly contested.
The Sharks edged to a 5-3 win which was "a good test for the girls to play in a tight game".
The Central Stingrays showed some resolve as well but were beaten 10-6.
