The ANZ championship pre-season shootout started in both Auckland and Sydney yesterday and wraps up tomorrow.
The Northern Mystics, Southern Steel, Adelaide Thunderbirds, Waikato-BOP Magic and Queensland Firebirds are in Auckland, while the other five teams are in Sydney.
In addition to playing three 30-minute games and a full-length game today, the Steel, who had a bye yesterday, will tomorrow play two 20-minute games with new rules.
A three-point scoring zone and rolling interchange will be trialled in tomorrow's matches in Auckland and Sydney.
While the new rules have been added for tomorrow's televised games to add interest, Southern Steel coach Noeline Taurua is not wildly excited about shooting from range less than two weeks out from the start of the ANZ championship.
"To be honest, we've only got a week and a-half, so we may look very mundane and very simple with what we're going to put out there tomorrow,'' she said.
"We've got a bigger picture and we just need to focus on what we need to do.''
That does not include shooting three-pointers willy-nilly when the team could be working on its structures under Taurua.
"For [three-pointers] to happen, it takes a new strategy,'' she said.
"One, is getting in the position to shoot, plus also having rebounders underneath and resetting the ball out to get those three points.''
Neither does it help that Southern Steel shooter Jhaniele Fowler-Reid is not comfortable shooting from distance, and is far more effective in close where she can utilise her strong rebounding game.
But for Taurua it is all about making sure the team is best prepared for its season opener against the Northern Mystics in Auckland on April 1.
She only signed on as coach of the franchise in November, and did not join up with the team until four weeks ago.
Taurua is more concerned about building on pre-season games against the Mainland Tactix, Canterbury men and Netball South national league team earlier this month.
The Steel plays the Northern Mystics and the Adelaide Thunderbirds twice in 30-minute games today, before a full-length match against the Waikato Bay-of Plenty Magic at 5pm today.
With a busy schedule ahead for the team, Taurua is expected to give all 12 players in the squad a run.
"We are sort of at the stage where we are giving opportunities for players to get a run,'' she said.
"But also knowing we have got a big load tomorrow, we have to be quite strategic. I suppose it's an opportunity to see the opposition in regards to how or how close we are.
"It's also about us consolidating our court strategies and testing that against the opposition . . . so after this weekend we are more clear as to what we want to put out on court in one and a-half weeks.
"Each week is about building on what we've done previously and making sure we're better every week.''
The Steel's two games tomorrow are against the Mystics and Magic.
The top two teams after tomorrow's games will play in the shootout final at 5.15pm.
After this weekend's pre-season tournament, the Steel will have one final pre-season game, against a combined Netball South national league team and Southland men's team, in Invercargill on Thursday.
It is then down to business.
ANZ pre-season shootout
Southern Steel schedule
Today (first three games 30min)
9am, v Northern Mystics
11am, v Adelaide Thunderbirds
3pm, v Adelaide Thunderbirds
5pm, v Waikato-BOP Magic (60min)
Tomorrow (20min matches)
2.35pm, v Northern Mystics
4.05pm, v Waikato-BOP Magic
