The combined Otago-Southland team has been ravaged by injuries, with three key players forced to sit out the opening game.
Shooter Daneka Wipiiti missed the humbling 51-34 loss to the Northern Mystics with an ankle injury, Sheryl Scanlan was also sidelined nursing a foot complaint and Australian import Natasha Chokljat is out with a calf injury and will miss the next two games.
Steel coach Robyn Broughton was forced to send an SOS to former Silver Ferns shooter Tania Dalton as cover for Wipiiti.
The 39-year-old had not played top netball for five years but came on during the second half and picked up where she left off.
She drilled six goals from six attempts and showed up some of her younger team-mates before also hobbling off with an injury.
But her appearance was a one-off and she will not be coming to the Steel's rescue.
She is too busy commentating on the tournament in her job as a presenter for Sky.
If Wipiiti does not recover in time for Sunday's match against the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic - and it is touch and go - Broughton might have to unearth another player of Dalton's calibre, because the attack end just did not function as it should.
Teenage Otago shooter Te Paea Selby-Rickit did her best in her ANZ Championship debut but was exposed, and former Silver Fern Paula Griffin did not have the impact the Steel would have liked.
"We are really stuck," Broughton said.
In a frank admission, Broughton conceded her back-up shooter was not ready for ANZ Championship netball.
"It was quite traumatic for Te Paea. She was really upset at the end of that game. She was hurting and it is tough to be shooting down around 60%.
"She was losing the ball around the circle edge a lot and that is really hard on the senior players as well. You can give inexperienced players cameo performances and put them on for a quarter and nurse them through things. But that was hard work and I felt for her, actually."
Broughton said she was expecting more from Griffin in her debut for the Steel.
"She has been a Silver Fern and we need to make sure she is more involved in the game. We are upbeat, but all the injuries are quite disheartening."
There was some good news on the injury front, though.
Co-captain Liana Leota limped off towards the end of the match but it was just cramp and she has not re-aggravated her calf injury as feared.
Scanlan is close to making a return.
The former Silver Fern had been sidelined most of last season and Broughton said she was considering finding a replacement for the injury-prone defender.
"I think the time has come. She needs to be back on the court. She is a good player and a very experienced player and it is times like this when we need players like her."
