Southern Steel are a New Zealand netball team based in Invercargill. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. Since 2017 they have represented Netball South in the ANZ Premiership. Netball South is the governing body that represents Southland and Otago. In 2017 they won their first premiership when they were the inaugural ANZ Premiership winners. In 2018 they won their second premiership when they retained the title. In 2017 Steel were the inaugural winners of the Netball New Zealand Super Club tournament.
History Formation Southern Steel was formed in 2007. The new team was effectively a merger of the two former National Bank Cup teams, Southern Sting and Otago Rebels. Steel subsequently became founder members of the ANZ Championship. Ahead of the 2008 ANZ Championship season, Robyn Broughton was appointed the team's first head coach and Jenny-May Coffin and Megan Hutton were named as co-captains.
ANZ Championship Between 2008 and 2016, Southern Steel played in the ANZ Championship. In both 2009 and 2010, Steel finished 4th during the regular season and qualified for the playoffs. However on both occasions they failed to progress beyond the semifinals. Steel's best performance during the ANZ Championship era came in 2016. With a team coached by Noeline Taurua, captained by Wendy Frew and featuring Gina Crampton, Jhaniele Fowler-Reid, Shannon Francois, and Jane Watson, Steel finished the season as minor premiers. However, they subsequently lost the New Zealand Conference Final to Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic and were defeated in the semifinals by Queensland Firebirds.
Regular season statistics Season Position Won Drawn Lost20086th706 20094th80520104th805 20117th40920129th201120136th60720145th70620158th32820161st1120
ANZ Premiership Since 2017, Steel have played in the ANZ Premiership. With a team coached by Reinga Bloxham, captained by Wendy Frew and featuring Gina Crampton, Jhaniele Fowler-Reid, Shannon Francois, and Jane Watson, Steel finished the 2017 season as inaugural ANZ Premiership winners. After finishing the regular season unbeaten and as minor premiers, Steel defeated Central Pulse 69–53 in the grand final. This saw Steel complete a 16 match unbeaten season. However, Steel's perfect season was almost derailed on 12 June when a van with six of their players on board was involved in a road traffic accident in Fendalton, Christchurch. Four of the players were injured. Wendy Frew received over seventy stitches and underwent surgery while Te Paea Selby-Rickit suffered a dual fractured rib. Shannon Francois and Jhaniele Fowler-Reid had minor injuries. Just two days later, on 14 June, with the four injured players replaced by four players recruited from their Beko Netball League team, Steel notched up win number 14 of the season against Mainland Tactix. Despite been 41–38 down after three quarters, Steel launched a comeback in the fourth quarter to win 51–46.
Steel remained unbeaten as they went onto win the 2017 Netball New Zealand Super Club tournament, defeating Northern Mystics 79–58 in the final. The run continued into the 2018 season. However after defeating Mystics in their opening match, they were beaten 62–51 by Pulse, ending a 22–match win streak. The streak included 17 ANZ Premiership matches and five Super Club matches. Despite this and despite losing two key players, Jhaniele Fowler-Reid and Jane Watson, Steel went onto to retain their title. In the 2018 grand final they again defeated Pulse.
Regular season statistics Season Position Won Drawn Lost 20171st1500 20182nd1005 20192nd1203 20205th4110 20212nd1104 20224th609 20236th0015 20246th2013 20254th50520262nd802
Grand finals ANZ Premiership Season Winners Score Runners up Venue2017Southern Steel69–53Central PulseStadium Southland2018Southern Steel54–53Central PulseFly Palmy Arena2026Southern Steel46–56Northern MysticsTrusts Arena Netball New Zealand Super Club Season Winners Score Runners up Venue2017Southern Steel79–58Northern MysticsTrafalgar Centre
Home venues
Steel's main home venue is Stadium Southland. They also play some home games at Dunedin's Edgar Centre. During the 2011, 2012 and 2013 seasons, while Stadium Southland was unavailable following a roof collapse in September 2010, Steel played their Invercargill home games at the ILT Velodrome.
YearsStadium Southland2008–2010, 2014–Edgar Centre2008–ILT Velodrome2011–2013
Notable players 2026 squad
Internationals
Jodi Brown Aliyah Dunn Jenny-May Coffin Gina Crampton Tania Dalton Leana de Bruin Wendy Frew Paula Griffin Ellen Halpenny Georgia Heffernan Kate Heffernan Phoenix Karaka Liana Leota Tiana Metuarau Kimiora Poi Storm Purvis Katrina Rore Shannon Saunders Sheryl Scanlan Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit Te Paea Selby-Rickit Carys Stythe Courtney Tairi Sulu Tone-Fitzpatrick Jane Watson Debbie White Donna Wilkins Adine Wilson Samantha Winders Daneka Wipiiti
Rachel Rasmussen Hayley Saunders
Natasha Chokljat Megan Dehn Demelza McCloud
George Fisher
Jhaniele Fowler Malysha Kelly
Julianna Naoupu Rachel Rasmussen Sheryl Scanlan Saviour Tui
Leana de Bruin Lenize Potgieter Jeanté Strydom
Kalifa McCollin
Captains YearsJenny-May Coffin2008Megan HuttonAdine Wilson2009Megan Dehn2010Wendy Frew2011Liana LeotaJodi Brown2012–2014Wendy Frew2015–2018Gina Crampton2019–2020Te Huinga Reo Selby-RickitShannon Saunders2021–2022Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit2023 Kate Heffernan 2024 2025 Kimiora Poi 2026
Award winners ANZ Championship awards ANZ Championship MVP Season Player2010Liana Barrett-Chase2011Leana de Bruin 2013Jhaniele Fowler2015Jhaniele Fowler 2016Jhaniele Fowler
Notes Leana de Bruin shared the 2011 award with Natalie Medhurst (Queensland Firebirds). In 2015 and 2016 Jhaniele Fowler was the MVP player in the New Zealand Conference.
ANZ Championship Best New Talent Season Player2013Jhaniele Fowler
New Zealand Netball Awards New Zealand ANZ Championship Player of the Year Season Winner2016Gina Crampton ANZ Premiership Player of the Year Season Winner2017Jane Watson2019Gina Crampton
Coaches Head coaches Coach YearsRobyn Broughton2008–2011 Janine Southby2012–2015 Natalie Avellino2012 Noeline Taurua2015–2016 Reinga Bloxham2016– 2024 Wendy Frew2024–
Notes Janine Southby and Natalie Avellino were co-head coaches for the 2012 season
Assistant coaches
Coach YearsDonna Wilkins2008 Margaret Foster2009 Jo Cunningham2010–2011 Natalie Avellino2012–2013 Reinga Te Huia2014–2016 Lauren Piebenga2017–
Reserve team Since 2016, Netball South have entered a team in the National Netball League. They are effectively the reserve team of Southern Steel. They originally played simply as Netball South before becoming known as Southern Blast. In 2016, Netball South won the inaugural NNL title after defeating Central Zone 51–46 in the grand final. At the 2016 New Zealand Netball Awards, Netball South winning the inaugural title was named Moment of the Year.
Honours
ANZ Premiership Winners: 2017, 2018 Runners Up: 2026 Minor premiers: 2017 ANZ Championship Minor premiers: 2016 Netball New Zealand Super Club Winners: 2017
References
External links Official website Southern Steel on Facebook Southern Steel on Twitter