Unfortunately for the Steel, they chose last night to demonstrate their class. Shooter Cathrine Latu produced the perfect performance, drilling all 46 of her attempts at goal to help the Mystics to a 67-61 win at Stadium Southland.
Makeshift goal keep Jessica Tuki had an outstanding opening half and durable centre Laura Langman stitched the ends together with a brilliant effort in the midcourt.
Steel coach Janine Southby had no choice but to shrug off the defeat. It has left the Steel's playoff prospects hanging by a thread but sometimes you just have to applaud the opposition.
''They're an international act and, unfortunately, they got it right tonight and it was pretty hard to stop. But I thought we had opportunities we could have taken but just didn't make the right decisions.
''We made some mistakes that we haven't been doing in the last couple of weeks, which was disappointing.
''They put [an] immense amount of pressure on us and we didn't absorb that and make the good decisions we had. We lost a little bit of movement and confidence on attack to let the ball go.''
The Steel lost experienced centre Phillipa Finch during the warm-up. She strained her calf muscle and had to be replaced in the starting side by Gina Crampton.
Crampton, and Stacey Peeters, when she came on later in the game, played well but the Steel lacked punch in the midcourt.''
Unfortunately, we had a new combination in there tonight and it was [a] little bit rusty at times. We've got to go away and work on that one.''
Mystics coach Debbie Fuller sprang a surprise, opting to start with Tuki at goal keep ahead of the explosive Temalisi Fakahokotau. The former Silver Ferns back-up shooter must have played just about every position on the court by now.
Latu gave an early indication it was going to be her night. She flung a no-look behind the head pass which found the ever-present Langman perfectly positioned.
How did they do it?
The Steel's best moment of the first period came when Jodi Brown made a basketball-style lay-up pass. She followed that effort with a more traditional bullet which found a leaping Jhaniele Fowler-Reid under the net.
Turnovers happen in netball, but the trick is to not string a series of mistakes together. A clumsy five-minute spell can sink a side at this level and that is exactly what the Steel managed early in the second period.
It started with a fumbled pass - harmless enough if isolated but it was followed by a 50-50 pass which was defected away before another needless turnover which left the Steel trailing 28-22.
Tuki possesses tremendous vertical elevation and used her athleticism to make every pass in as difficult as possible.
And with two intercepts and five deflections, she enjoyed a fabulous 30 minutes. But in a confusing move Fuller replaced Tuki for the much smaller Fakahokotau.
Southby also went to the bench. She shifted the experienced Wendy Frew to centre and brought on Peeters at wing defence.
Frew often goes unnoticed at wing defence but in the more visible centre bib she shone.
Whether it was battling for possession, getting back in support or hauling in a pass with the tips of her fingers, the vice-captain was in everything.
The Steel stormed back into the match, outscoring its opponent 17-12 and taking a 49-48 lead into the final period.
The crowd of 2700 had been worked into a frenzy and with five minutes remaining the scores were level 59-59.
Steel wing attack Shannon Francois was unlucky to have the ball knocked out of her hands by a charging Fakahokotau.
A contact could have easily been called and the game may have swung the Steel's way.
The home side was forced into catch-up netball and made another risky cross-court pass which got picked off. And with that the win slipped away.
ANZ Championship
The scores
Mystics 67
Cathrine Latu 46 from 46, Maria Tutaia 21/28
Steel 61
Jhaniele Fowler-Reid 47/49, Jodi Brown 14/17
Quarter scores: 1st 19-19, 2nd 36-32, 3rd 48-49
