Defence wins matches, right? Not this year. Well, not for the Steel at least.
The combined Otago-Southland team has one of the most potent attacks in the competition and is winning games by playing an attacking and exciting brand of netball.
Even when it does not win, it still scores plenty of goals and it is mostly down to one player - Jamaican shooter Jhaniele Fowler.
She has been a revelation in her debut season and leads the competition in scoring with 309 goals in six games.
Her performance against the Swifts was one of the more astonishing solo efforts. The 23-year-old scored 59 of the team's 60 goals - the highest percentage of a team's goals in the history of the ANZ Championship.
Goal attack Jodi Brown made just three attempts and scored the only other goal. But her passing has also been a feature of the Steel's improved performances.
Last year, the team lost 10 consecutive games to round out a miserable campaign. The Steel has taken a couple of steps forward in recent weeks, although it can ill afford a setback against Mystics in Auckland tomorrow night.
The franchise is in a rebuilding phase and set the reasonable target of cracking the top six this season.
So far so good. At the halfway point, the Steel is in fifth place but there is a logjam in the middle of the competition table with four teams sharing six points.
The Steel is fresh from its first back-to-back wins since 2010 and a loss would quickly snuff out any momentum the team has been able to create.
But it felt like the team turned the corner with its comfortable 67-52 win against the Mystics in Invercargill last month. It followed that performance with a gutsy 60-55 win against the Swifts.
The team still has the odd lapse but there have been some positive signs, particularly in the shooting circle.
Centre Phillipa Finch and defender Rachel Rasmussen are also key players in the line-up and Sulu Tone-Fitzpatrick has lifted her game since the bye and is creating her share of turnover ball.
If the Mystics are going to overcome the 15-point deficit they conceded to the Steel last month, the key will be finding a way to stop the ball getting to Fowler.
No-one has managed to stop the 1.98m goal shoot yet and consequently, the Steel has the second-best goal average in the ANZ Championship with 61.83. Only the Firebirds are more productive with 62.5 goals a game. In terms of accuracy, the Steel is at No 1, landing 90.9 of its attempts. Incredibly, Fowler has scored 83.3% of the Steel's goals this season.
The Steel has scored 60 goals nine times and three of those have been scored this season. The franchise has also posted its highest two scores of 75 and 67.
Meanwhile, defence has been a major problem for the Mystics. The Ruth Aitken-coached team has been dismal in that area. The Mystics have conceded a league-worst 69.71 goals a game.
Defence might not always win you matches, but for the Mystics it has certainly contributed to their one win-six loss record.
ANZ Championship
Steel v Mystics
Where: The Trusts Arena, Auckland
When: Tomorrow, 7.20pm
Record: Steel 4, Mystics 7
