Boat is probably a bad choice of word given how much rain Southland has had in the past week. But if the Steel wants to keep its play-off prospects afloat, it must beat the Canterbury Tactix in Christchurch today.
Technically, a loss would not put the Steel out of the running. But if the combined Otago-Southland team cannot beat the struggling Tactix then, realistically, it has little hope of progressing beyond pool play.
Then again, a win will probably be received by the media with the same shrug of the shoulders the Steel's 24-goal shellacking of the Central Pulse was.
It really is a bit of no-win situation for the Steel, captain Megan Dehn agreed.
Win and so what, but lose and the soul-searching will begin in earnest.
"We try not to read what is in the papers," Dehn said.
"It either gets you down or pumps you up. I guess we were just happy to have a win [against the Pulse on Monday]. It was a complete team performance and we got lots of players on in different combinations and still managed to get the some goals on the board.
"All the New Zealand games are pretty much a must win for us if we are to have a chance to make the semis. The Tactix are similar [to the Pulse]. They've got a good team . . . and once they get rolling they are speedy through the court and will be tough to beat at home."
While the Steel camp was reasonably content with it performance against the Pulse, there were some worrying signs.
The Steel has struggled to maintain intensity for the entire 60 minutes and there was a noticeable drop-off in performance and energy in the last quarter. Having outclassed the Wellington-based franchise for 45min, the Steel's effort fell away.
"We spoke about that [on Wednesday] night at training," Dehn said. "It could have been a 30-goal difference but ended up being 24-goals because of a few drop balls and wayward passes in the last quarter. That is something we don't want to happen and can't let happen against most teams in the competition."
While the Christchurch-based side has just one win from six matches, it is not a team the Steel can afford to take lightly. The Tactix had a good win against the Steel in a pre-season game in Dunedin.
"[That loss] showed us we have to stick together as a team and make sure we are all firing at the same time. We can't beat the Tactix with just two or three players having a good game and the rest having ordinary games."
The Tactix have a small line-up by comparison to some of the other ANZ Championship teams. But one player who is making a big name for herself, despite not being overly tall for her position, is Charlotte Kight.
The 1.83m defender concedes at least a few centimetres most weeks. But the 21-year-old has impressed with her determination and decisive defence. She has made 18 intercepts and trails only Casey Williams (19) of the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic and Althea Byfield (21) of the Northern Mystics.
She also features in the top ten for defensive rebounds, with 14 rebounds.
"Charlotte has a good all-round game. She can play tight man-on [defence] or hang back and go for the big intercepts. She is a confident player and pretty strong in the air."
• STEEL v TACTIX
Venue: Westpac Arena, Christchurch
Time: 2.20pm
