Former Silver Ferns coach Yvonne Willering will reserve judgement until the second round.
But right now the veteran coach believes the inaugural ANZ Premiership is a lopsided tournament with the Steel well on top and the rest of the teams struggling in its wake.
The Steel's record 90-41 thumping of the Tactix in Christchurch on Wednesday has brought the gap between the Steel and the rest of the field into sharp focus.
Classy shooter Jhaniele Fowler-Reid amassed a quite staggering 70 goals in the game. But it has not just been the Tactix which has laboured against the Steel.
In four games the Steel has scored 311 goals at an average of 77.75. That is arguably as much a testament to the Steel's ability as it is the quality of the league.
But Willering has taken less notice of the one-sided scorelines as she has the performances she has seen on court.
``There is a gap between the Steel and the other teams and one of the reasons is the Steel definitely make far less unforced errors and that is reflected in the stats,'' Willering said.
``But sometimes when the scores blow out it is because players are given opportunities when the game is out of reach.
``The Steel were looking for a high score. I think that was evident by the way they kept the speed of the game going.
``Once you have a winning margin you look at other goals in the game that you want to achieve. The Tactix realistically weren't going to win that, so I'm sure they have things they think they could improve on in more realistic games where they do have an opportunity in.''
The ANZ Premiership was set up to fill the void left when Australia pulled out of the transtasman tournament at the end of last season.
New Zealand had five franchises playing in that competition, so Netball New Zealand added a team to give the new competition substance and to avoid a bye. But it has also diluted the talent pool and that has exacerbated the gap.
``A lot of the Beko team players from last year are now in line-ups and you are now looking at that experience versus youth and, at the moment, experience is winning through.
``When I look at the performances there are just so many errors in the games.
``Don't look at the Steel but look at some of the other games and some of them are quite low scoring games. That is because of the number of turnovers. That is a worry when you are looking for excellence out on court.''
However, Willering said with the teams playing each other three times, there was still plenty of time for teams to bridge the gap.
``The second round is going to tell a heck of a lot more as to what is happening. I'll reserve judgement until after that.
``Are Steel beatable? Yes they are, but you have to be at the top of your game and the opposition have to be playing as a team as well.
``I've looked at other teams and a lot of them aren't playing to their full potential, so let's see that second round of competition.''
