With former captain and goal attack Jodi Brown now with the Central Pulse, there is a gaping hole next to the star Jamaican.
Te Paea Selby-Rickit is the most likely to fill the void, but she is more of a traditional goal shoot than a goal attack.
Sophia Fenwick, who spent the past three years with the Tactix after originally playing for the Steel in 2011, and Brooke Leaver, a member of the Magic last season, are the other two shooters in the squad.
With just under two months left before the regular-season opener against the New South Wales Swifts in Invercargill on March 1, Southby has plenty of time - and five official pre-season games - to make a decision.
While some people are lucky enough to still be on holiday, the Steel players were among others to return to work this week.
After getting back to work on Monday and training as a team in Invercargill the following day, the side was in Dunedin yesterday for its weekly training session at the Edgar Centre.
The Steel is now building towards the pre-season tournament in Sydney starting on February 6.
Southby, who is entering her third year as head coach after co-coaching the team with Natalie Avellino in 2012, said the the team had started the new year well.
''We have been pleased with how the girls fronted on Monday and Tuesday. They had some work-ons over those 2 weeks they had off, and most of them have worked pretty hard to get there,'' she said.
Only Fowler-Reid, who is playing for Jamaica in a three-match series against England in Kingston, is missing from the squad.
The test series finishes on Tuesday and Fowler-Reid is due back in the country next weekend.
''It will be good to get her over here,'' Southby said.
''Some of the girls haven't played with her before. So the longer she is here and the more time she spends with us, the easier it is.''
The Steel coach plans to watch the 1.98m shooter in action for Jamaica via an internet stream.
Minus a ''few little niggles that we are monitoring'', the squad was injury-free and working on its combinations, Southby said.
As well as bringing in local players in both Invercargill and Dunedin to train against the side, the Steel will play against the Canterbury men's team in Dunedin at the end of the month.
The Steel has lost the corresponding match against the Canterbury men the past two years, but did beat them in a match during last year's regular season.
''It's really just about these girls developing their connections on court and to keep testing them,'' Southby said.
''Obviously, after the Sydney pre-season we will see where we are at and it gives us a couple of weeks to pinpoint further work-ons, and there always are some.''
With the Steel scheduled to play five pre-season games in Sydney early next month, everyone in the squad will see game time, Southby said.
''My belief is that we are going to need all 12 to get through. It's a long season, and at any stage someone can get an injury or illness. You have got to have everyone ready to go and the pre-season is the opportunity to do that.''
by Robert van Royen
