That sums up Steel coach Reinga Bloxham’s feelings after her side’s effort at the ANZ Premiership pre-season tournament in Otaki at the weekend.
The Steel opened the tournament with a win against the Mystics and a loss to the Central Pulse on Friday.
After a poor start, the Steel fell to a 57-47 loss to the Magic on Saturday but rebounded with a 64-52 win against the Northern Stars yesterday.
"I think we improved as the weekend went on, so we’ve set ourselves up quite nicely for the next two weeks to keep building on that momentum," Bloxham said.
"It was also good to get everyone on the court at some stage and just trying out different combinations.
"That time out on court was really good and to get through the weekend without any injuries was even better."
The Steel will open its ANZ Premiership campaign when it hosts the Magic in Dunedin on March 16.
A couple of younger players are mounting a compelling case for inclusion in the starting side following strong efforts in the pre-season tournament, Reinga said.
"A few people put their hand up and gave the coaching staff something to think about when we consolidate that starting line-up."
"Taneisha Fifita had a really solid weekend and did some really good stuff at goal keep.
"She was able to turn over ball and just her physicality was really good. The other player who had a solid weekend was Georgia Heffernan.
"She keeps building every time she takes the court, as well. It is quite pleasing to see that they have become real options for us to use and for us to considered for the starting line-up."
The Steel will need to add some polish at the attack end, though. The side managed just 25 goals in the 17-goal loss to the Pulse.
"We’ve addressed that and for us to be competitive we definitely have to be able to finish off those goals and score in those critical moments.
"I was not so concerned about the result. But there was definitely one quarter in the game against the Pulse where we lost the plot completely, so that was a concern.
"We should be able to hold our performance, no matter who we have on the court. And our first quarter against the Magic just was not good enough, either.
"That put us on the back foot for the rest of the game."
The Steel’s next assignment is a training match against the Southern Blast Beko team in Invercargill on Saturday.
