On the inside, there is still the feeling it can do better.
The side entered the ANZ Premiership with little external expectation.
It had named a very young and new squad, which then lost all seven of its pre-season matches.
But it has since flourished and three wins from five games leave it third on the table one-third of the way through the season.
Of the two losses, a slow start cost it against the Northern Mystics and it was genuinely outplayed only by the unbeaten Northern Stars.
That leaves the side well among the playoff contenders.
Steel coach Reinga Bloxham said she was pretty happy with the way the team was going.
‘‘I still think the we are building and there is quite a lot of stuff I think we can improve on,’’ she said following Sunday’s win over the Central Pulse in Porirua.
‘‘We can still do quite a lot of things better.’’
She said the side at times needed to show more patience and it needed to link better in attack.
It had to make sure it played to its strengths.
Kate Heffernan had made plenty of progress in the centre bib and was only going to get better.
She has moved into the position after spending the past three seasons at wing defence.
That followed Gina Crampton’s departure, which has moved longtime centre Shannon Saunders to wing attack.
Bloxham is impressed with both the attack and defence of the young midcourter.
English import George Fisher is showing her worth in the shooting circle.
The 22-year-old has scored 214 goals at a premiership-leading 93%, providing a reliable presence the side has missed since Jhaniele Fowler’s departure at the end of 2017.
While the volume may be lower than Fowler’s — who topped 50 goals 29 times for the Steel — her accuracy is comparable with the Jamaican’s in her final season with the team.
In this year’s league, only Mystics’ shooter Grace Nweke has more goals to her name with 264.
That has helped the Mystics to second place on the table.
It has also recorded three wins, but has picked up two bonus points.
The Stars have emerged as the early front-runners.
They are unbeaten through the first five weeks and have had some convincing wins among that.
The Mainland Tactix, the Steel’s opponent this Monday in Invercargill, trails in fourth on two wins.
The Central Pulse and Waikato Bay of Plenty lag at the bottom with a solitary win each.
