This would be a huge game, even if competition points were all that was on the line.
The Southern Steel remains in a playoff scrap with three matches left in the ANZ Premiership’s round-robin.
Its opponent in Invercargill tomorrow, the Northern Mystics, is also among that scrap.
However, alongside valuable points, the Georgie Salter Memorial Trophy will also be
at stake.
Salter, who died aged 67 in 2018, had a significant impact on many of the Steel players.
The side’s coach, Reinga Bloxham, also knew her very well — she is her niece.
That gave Bloxham plenty of insight into how Salter would have entered this game.
"Georgie would just approach this game like having absolutely nothing to lose," Bloxham said.
"She would be tactically thinking about how you could mess with them and throw something a little bit different at them.
"She would be focused on the need to absolutely take them out and be better than them."
A win would lift the Steel above the Mystics — who are one point ahead of them — into second place on the table.
It would also mean more valuable points ahead of the chasing Mainland Tactix, who trail the Steel by three points but have a game in hand.
The teams split the first two games against each other and the Steel’s ability to keep the ball away from deadly young goal shoot Grace Nweke will be key.
Bloxham said while she did not often attach too much emotion to games, the side was using Salter as inspiration tomorrow.
"I talked at the end of training about the uniqueness of this game and what an amazing person Georgie was.
"It’s a very special game and in the last couple of years we’ve worked really hard to approach this memorial with passion and heart.
"Normally when you go into games you don’t want too much emotion but I think in the past it’s really driven us and helped get us across the line.
"It’s about educating those new players about who Georgie was and what she brought to the province, to her family, to netball, to everything she did.
"It’s about sharing those funny little stories about her, so they get a sense of who she was."
Bloxham said the side would take a similar approach to the last time it faced the Mystics.
"The Mystics are playing some really quality netball at the moment.
"They are confident in what they’re doing and really controlled with the ball.
"We’ll approach it like we approached it last time. If we can try and disrupt and disconnect their attacking line up early on, that will give us confidence going forward.
"We’ve definitely had a good look at them and what’s working for them.
"We can take what we did last time and tweak it to make sure that we really stop the flow of ball going into that circle."
The game begins at 6.15pm.
