The side was beaten 62-51 by the Central Pulse in Palmerston North, ending a 22-match win streak.
That streak included 17 ANZ Premiership matches and five Super Club matches, with all but Sunday's win over the Northern Mystics coming last year.
But perhaps having that streak disappear will allow this team to step out of last year's shadow.
After playing two games in as many days to open the season, it now does not play again until next Wednesday when it hosts the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic in Dunedin.
While that makes for a disjointed start to the season, it might also let this team develop its own identity.
Much of the focus heading into last weekend was whether it could maintain its dominance without Jhaniele Fowler-Reid and Jane Watson.
The win streak was the biggest remnant of that.
While the side has said it is not concentrating on last year, it is hard to imagine the streak was not hanging over it, even if just a little bit. Now it has a chance to reset itself, as do its fans and the analysts.
The initial interest of the first weekend is gone, the early loss confirming to everyone that this is indeed a new team.
That it has an extra-long break before it next takes the court should mean hose comparisons well and truly die down before it plays the rest of its season.
Likewise, if you are going to have a poor performance like that, it is better to do it sooner rather than later.
Not only does the side have plenty of time to improve before its next game, it has 13 games to get it right - provided it wins a few along the way.
It is more than capable of doing that. There remains plenty of experience throughout the court, while the youngsters have shown enough to suggest they can play at this level.
The same could be said about the Pulse - its teenage shooting duo was more than proficient and will no doubt get better.
However, the Steel will have to believe it can turn Monday's result around. While the Pulse played well, many of the Steel's mistakes were its own doing.
That means they are things it can work on, rather than the other team simply being too good.
In Australia, the Steel's loss has become the West Coast Fever's gain.
Former import goal shoot Jhaniele Fowler-Reid, who played for the Steel from 2013 until 2017, has made a dominant start to the Super Netball season.
She has scored 128 goals from 135 attempts in two games, beating the Adelaide Thunderbirds 74-56 and Collingwood Magpies 68-57.
Fellow Jamaican Romelda Aiken is second on 84.
