The Southern Steel finished their preseason Southern Showdown with a 49-29 loss to the Central Pulse at the Edgar Centre on Sunday.
It was hard to gauge where the Steel are at with four players missing from the game, but still, there were glimpses of what they are capable this season and nice passages of play.
Now it is just being able to pull that together — and remove the misplaced passes and error rate — for a full four-quarter performance before the season opener next month.
Both had fresh attack lines with no Ivari Christie or Jen O’Connell for the Steel — and Kate Heffernan and Shannon Saunders sitting out the tournament — and Pulse co-captain Tiana Metuarau not taking to the court either.
Grace Southby lined up at wing attack for the Steel and Martina Salmon filled the void for the Pulse.
The Pulse looked clinical for so early in the season but that is what comes with the luxury of retaining six of your starting team from last season.
Tongan international and former New South Wales Swifts training partner Kelea Iongi has slotted in nicely in the Pulse defence circle.
It was a back-and-forth opening quarter in which both teams were guilty of coughing up the ball.
Kelly Jackson (nee Jury) picked the pocket and pulled in several balls the Steel sent long.
Jeante Strydom tracked Salmon strongly throughout the court and applied the pressure to make things tough in the Pulse’s attacking end.
The Pulse took a narrow 10-9 lead and extended throughout the second.
Late in the quarter, Renee Savai’inaea smothered Pulse centre Maddy Gordon and both hit the deck.
It resulted in Savai’inaea being cited for dangerous play and sent from the court for two minutes.
Southby was shifted from wing attack to centre to fill the void, but it left the Steel with one less attacker for the rest of the quarter.
Taneisha Fifita picked up a great intercept for the Steel, but without an extra attacker, the Steel struggled to convert it at the other end and the Pulse led 22-13 at halftime.
The Pulse connections were slick and barely missed a beat.
Whitney Souness rolled off the body into the space and it opened up the whole attack line in a nice passage of play.
Georgia Heffernan’s combination with Grace Namana at the back has potential.
The two worked really hard in the circle for each other and kept battling away even when things did not quite go their way.
Things blew out in favour of their Pulse in the second half as their connections started to hum.
Abby Lawson — arguably one of the best on court for the Steel throughout the weekend— was dogged in her approach outside the circle.
She was a workhorse and tirelessly put her body on the line to bring the ball through the court.
In the earlier game, the Tactix beat the Magic 65-46.
