Southern Steel

Formation

Southern Steel was formed in 2007. The new team was effectively a merger of the two former National Bank Cup teams, Southern Sting and Otago Rebels. Steel subsequently became founder members of the ANZ Championship. Ahead of the 2008 ANZ Championship season, Robyn Broughton was appointed the team's first head coach and Jenny-May Coffin and Megan Hutton were named as co-captains.

ANZ Championship

Between 2008 and 2016, Southern Steel played in the ANZ Championship. In both 2009 and 2010, Steel finished 4th during the regular season and qualified for the playoffs. However on both occasions they failed to progress beyond the semifinals. Steel's best performance during the ANZ Championship era came in 2016. With a team coached by Noeline Taurua, captained by Wendy Frew and featuring Gina Crampton, Jhaniele Fowler-Reid, Shannon Francois, and Jane Watson, Steel finished the season as minor premiers. However, they subsequently lost the New Zealand Conference Final to Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic and were defeated in the semifinals by Queensland Firebirds.

Regular season statistics

Minor Premiership

Source:

ANZ Premiership

Since 2017, Steel have played in the ANZ Premiership. With a team coached by Reinga Bloxham, captained by Wendy Frew and featuring Gina Crampton, Jhaniele Fowler-Reid, Shannon Francois, and Jane Watson, Steel finished the 2017 season as inaugural ANZ Premiership winners. After finishing the regular season unbeaten and as minor premiers, Steel defeated Central Pulse 69–53 in the grand final. This saw Steel complete a 16 match unbeaten season. However, Steel's perfect season was almost derailed on 12 June when a van with six of their players on board was involved in a road traffic accident in Fendalton, Christchurch. Four of the players were injured. Wendy Frew received over seventy stitches and under went surgery while Te Paea Selby-Rickit suffered a dual fractured rib. Shannon Francois and Jhaniele Fowler-Reid had minor injuries. Just two days later, on 14 June, with the four injured players replaced by four players recruited from their Beko Netball League team, Steel notched up win number 14 of the season against Mainland Tactix. Despite been 41–38 down after three quarters, Steel launched a comeback in the fourth quarter to win 51–46.

Steel remained unbeaten as they went onto win the 2017 Netball New Zealand Super Club tournament, defeating Northern Mystics 79–58 in the final. The run continued into the 2018 season. However after defeating Mystics in their opening match, they were beaten 62–51 by Pulse, ending a 22–match win streak. The streak included 17 ANZ Premiership matches and five Super Club matches. Despite this and despite losing two key players, Jhaniele Fowler-Reid and Jane Watson, Steel went onto to retain their title. In the 2018 grand final they again defeated Pulse.

Regular season statistics

Premierships