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Making the top four in 2009 is all the encouragement Southern Steel need to maintain their momentum and claim a Grand Final spot in 2010.
Guided by one of the game's best team-builders, coach Robyn Broughton, and backed to the hilt by their famously ardent fans, Ascot Park Hotel-sponsored Steel have no intention of taking a backward step in Season Three.
Despite the departures of Adine Wilson, Donna Wilkins and Megan Hutton, Steel's quota of first-class experience remains high thanks to current or recent Silver Ferns Liana Barrett-Chase, Sheryl Scanlan, Wendy Telfer, Leana de Bruin and Daneka Wipiiti. Former Australian (and World 7) player Megan Dehn can be expected to add the same punch to the forward line she contributed as a replacement player to Steel's last four matches in 2009, which included a fine win against the Adelaide Thunderbirds. Twenty-three-year-old shooter Jade Topia also brings solid experience with her from the Silver Ferns and NZU21 squads, and two years with the Mystics.
After two years with Steel, Julianna Naoupu (19) and Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit (20) have a great opportunity to do some serious shoe-filling, while talented young Otago recruits Emma Moynihan and Hayley Saunders offer options on defence and in the mid-court.
With 2009 victories against all the New Zealand teams except Magic, as well as Swifts and Thunderbirds, Steel have stamped their patch as a serious title contender. However, complacency and weakness are savagely punished in the ANZ Championship, so not only must they do it all again in 2010, but also go hard after the scalps that eluded them last season.
Their chances to do that begin immediately, when they meet Fever at home and Magic in Rotorua. Next up is Pulse in Dunedin, before a trip to Adelaide to meet the Thunderbirds who ended their Grand Final hopes last year. Round 5 will see Steel back home in Stadium Southland against the Firebirds, who defeated them by only two goals in Round 12 of the 2009 season.
Slideshow Image: Megan Dehn shoots against Bianca Reddy (Adelaide Thunderbirds) in Round 13. Steel won, 58-49. (PHOTO: Michael Bradley)
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SOUTHERN STEEL 2010 |
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| PLAYER Italics=New to ANZ Championship |
2009 TEAMS |
| Liana Barrett-Chase | Silver Ferns, Steel |
| Erika Burgess | Steel, Southland |
| Leana de Bruin | Magic |
| Megan Dehn | World 7, Steel (as a Permanent Replacement Player) |
| Emma Moynihan | Otago |
| Julianna Naoupu | Steel, Southland |
| Hayley Saunders | Otago, Otago U21 |
| Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit | NZU21, Steel, Southland |
| Sheryl Scanlan | Silver Ferns, Steel |
| Wendy Telfer | Silver Ferns, World 7, Steel, Southland |
| Jade Topia | Mystics , Auckland Waitakere |
| Daneka Wipiiti | Steel |