The stalwart midcourter joined the franchise last season after seven seasons with the Mainland Tactix and became the attacking general, sliding from centre to wing attack.
After several seasons where the Steel’s attack line was decimated by injuries, Poi provided stability and brought in experience from her 26 caps with the Silver Ferns.
The 28-year-old shared leadership duties with Silver Ferns team-mate Kate Heffernan — who is now plying her trade with the Adelaide Thunderbirds — last season, but will take on the sole responsibility of the captain’s armband this season.
She felt she was still sharing the load with a strong leadership group in vice-captain Georgia Heffernan and shooter Aliyah Dunn by her side.
"It’s always special to lead a group of girls, and do my best to get us together, and get us to that premiership final — and a premiership," Poi said.
The Southern Steel have been deep in the preseason grind for over a month now — "it still kind of feels like we’ve just come in" — as they look to establish and refresh their connections.
Seven players are back from the 2025 side that finished fourth and Poi’s sister, Ashleigh, and Australians Jess Milne and Josie Bingham have added fresh blood.
"It’s pretty exciting that we’ve been able to carry over a group of seven people from last year and bring three people into the mix," Poi said.
After training against each other, and local men’s teams, the Steel had their first hit-outs against ANZ Premiership opponents at the annual Otaki preseason tournament last weekend.
They walked away with a strong 54-46 win over the Northern Stars, but lost 45-33 to the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic and 70-57 to the Northern Mystics.
"It was a bit of a rollercoaster ride there.
"We started off well with a pretty good performance against the Stars, which we were pretty happy with.
"The Magic game — we weren’t as happy with how we performed and took a loss in a 40-minute game.
"I guess they say you learn things more from a loss than a win and I think we definitely came away from the weekend ... getting a few growth areas for us.
"It’s something we’ve been working on this week and we’ve got a go this weekend [again]."
The Steel will host the Tactix in another preseason clash at the Edgar Centre tomorrow.
They arrived in Dunedin yesterday as part of their "road show" for a skills and drills session with young netballers, and will spend today in Oamaru hosting another session.
Poi, who has been training all week and will suit up tomorrow after tweaking her ankle and sitting out the final game in Otaki, was excited for a big game at home.
"I guess it’s our dress rehearsal for round one where we’re treating it like a real game, with normal game day processes which we can test to see how we go in that space."
The Tactix, coached by former Steel player Donna Wilkins, had two wins in Otaki: 50-47 against the Mystics and 54-51 against the the Magic.
Five players from the starting team that won the franchise’s inaugural ANZ Premiership title last season have moved on.
Former Central Pulse sharp-shooter Amorangi Malesala, wing defence Fa’amu Muliaga (nee Ioane) and defender Laura Balmer, Stars Australian shooter Charlie Bell, Mystics shooter Hannah Glen and former Queensland Firebird Ash Barnett have joined the new-look Tactix.
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