Southern Steel (netball)

History

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 and were defeated in the semifinals by Queensland Firebirds.

;Regular season statistics

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 underwent 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

Grand finals

;ANZ Premiership

;Netball New Zealand Super Club

Home venues

Steel's main home venue is Stadium Southland. They also play some home games at Dunedin's Edgar Centre. During the 2011, 2012 and 2013 seasons, while Stadium Southland was unavailable following a roof collapse in September 2010, Steel played their Invercargill home games at the ILT Velodrome.

Notable players

2025 squad

Internationals

;

;

• Rachel Rasmussen
• Hayley Saunders ;
• Natasha Chokljat
• Megan Dehn
• Demelza McCloud ;
• George Fisher ;
• Jhaniele Fowler
• Malysha Kelly ;
• Julianna Naoupu
• Rachel Rasmussen
• Sheryl Scanlan
• Saviour Tui ;
• Leana de Bruin
• Lenize Potgieter
• Jeanté Strydom ;
• Kalifa McCollin

Captains

Source:

Award winners

ANZ Championship awards

;ANZ Championship MVP

;Notes

• Leana de Bruin shared the 2011 award with Natalie Medhurst (Queensland Firebirds).
• In 2015 and 2016 Jhaniele Fowler was the MVP player in the New Zealand Conference.

;ANZ Championship Best New Talent

New Zealand Netball Awards

;New Zealand ANZ Championship Player of the Year

;ANZ Premiership Player of the Year

Sources:

Coaches

Head coaches

;Notes

• Janine Southby and Natalie Avellino were co-head coaches for the 2012 season

Source:

Assistant coaches

Reserve team

Since 2016, Netball South have entered a team in the National Netball League. They are effectively the reserve team of Southern Steel. They originally played simply as Netball South before becoming known as Southern Blast. In 2016, Netball South won the inaugural NNL title after defeating Central Zone 51–46 in the grand final. At the 2016 New Zealand Netball Awards, Netball South winning the inaugural title was named Moment of the Year.

Honours

• ANZ Premiership
  • Winners: 2017, 2018
  • Minor premiers: 2017
• ANZ Championship
  • Minor premiers: 2016
• Netball New Zealand Super Club
  • Winners: 2017

References

References

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74. (30 June 2008). "Steel clinch miraculous win over Magic". www.abc.net.au.
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77. (4 February 2010). "Netball: Australian Dehn to captain Steel". www.odt.co.nz.
78. (8 February 2010). "Megan Dehn aims for own style as captain". stuff.co.nz.
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84. (13 March 2018). "Frew named to lead Steel for 5th time". www.odt.co.nz.
85. (25 March 2019). "Look Hu's talking: Steel captain finds her voice". stuff.co.nz.
86. (11 February 2020). "Southern Steel co-captains named for 2020 ANZ Championship". stuff.co.nz.
87. (13 March 2021). "Saunders awarded Steel captaincy". www.sporty.co.nz.
88. (13 March 2021). "Midcourter Shannon Saunders named as Steel 2021 captain". www.nzsportswire.com.
89. (8 April 2022). "Saunders still in love with the game". www.odt.co.nz.
90. (3 February 2023). "Captaincy an honour, says Selby-Rickit". www.odt.co.nz.
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102. (12 July 2013). "Netball: Fowler named MVP". www.nzherald.co.nz.
103. (13 July 2013). "Netball: Fowler's MVP makes hat trick". www.odt.co.nz.
104. (5 June 2015). "Queensland Firebirds' Romelda Aiken claims third MVP award". www.smh.com.au.
105. (5 June 2015). "Aiken, Fowler-Reid named winners of Conference MVP awards". www.scoop.co.nz.
106. (5 June 2015). "Steel shooter named MVP". www.rnz.co.nz.
107. (14 July 2016). "Robinson, Fowler-Reid named winners of Conference MVP awards". www.scoop.co.nz.
108. (14 July 2016). "Shooting star nets MVP". www.netballnz.co.nz.
109. (3 November 2016). "Langman claims her second Dame Lois Muir Supreme Award". www.netballnz.co.nz.
110. (9 December 2016). "Crampton named NZ's best in ANZ Championship". www.netballnz.co.nz.
111. (30 June 2017). "Watson named ANZ Premiership Player of the Year". www.anzpremiership.co.nz.
112. (30 October 2019). "Laura Langman wins top honour as Silver Ferns celebrated at Netball Awards". www.nzherald.co.nz.
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115. (20 May 2011). "Netball: Steel name new coaches". www.nzherald.co.nz.
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117. (6 September 2012). "Southby named head coach for Southern Steel". www.stuff.co.nz.
118. (6 September 2012). "Janine Southby to take sole charge of Southern Steel". www.news.com.au.
119. (6 December 2015). "Noeline Taurua new Southern Steel coach". www.nzherald.co.nz.
120. (11 January 2017). "The Reinga Bloxham reign begins as the Southern Steel start 2017 preparations". stuff.co.nz.
121. (5 August 2024). "Wendy Frew appointed Southern Steel head coach". anzpremiership.co.nz.
122. (1 January 2009). "Wilkins is Steel assistant coach". [[The Southland Times]].
123. (16 May 2009). "No division of loyalties for Foster". www.odt.co.nz.
124. (17 April 2013). "Netball: Southern Steel axe coach Avellino". www.nzherald.co.nz.
125. (18 April 2013). "Netball: Steel sacks assistant coach Avellino". www.odt.co.nz.
126. (18 April 2013). "Natalie Avellino's axing ends odd Steel pairing". www.stuff.co.nz.
127. (10 December 2015). "Reinga Te Huia stays on as Southern Steel assistant coach". stuff.co.nz.
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133. (28 June 2016). "Central dip out to South". [[Manawatū Standard]].