Southern Steel draw confirms new Saturday slot
Saturday night fever is looming for Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel netball fans.
The 2023 ANZ Premiership draw released today confirms seven home games for the southern franchise – three of which have secured the favourable new time slot.
Steel’s Saturday night showdowns will be against the Splice Construction Magic on March 25 and the Te Wananga O Raukawa Pulse on April 29, both at ILT Stadium Southland in Invercargill, and the MG Mystics on April 1 at Dunedin’s Edgar Centre.
Head coach Reinga Bloxham was excited to see netball awarded the prime slot inline with other elite sporting codes.
“This new initiative will hopefully allow for more people to watch the ANZ Premiership and showcase netball to an even wider audience of sports fans, both in the stands at our games and from their couches at home,” she said.
“From a team perspective, it will give us an extra day to recover at times which is always a bonus.”
Other home games will see the Steel host the Tactix on April 23 in Dunedin, along with Invercargill fixtures against the Tactix on March 20, the Robinhood Stars on May 15 and the Magic on May 21.
The 2023 season kicks off on Saturday, March 4, with Steel featuring in the opening match against the Mystics in Auckland. All 45 regular season matches will be broadcast live and replayed on Sky Sport while Prime TV will show live and free-to-air games.
Bloxham is confident her players will be ready for action.
“The early start replicates this season to allow time for players to prepare for the Netball World Cup so it’s something we have known about and we are able to plan ahead to prepare for it.”
Despite three double header weekends to contend with, overall Bloxham was satisfied with the balanced nature of games allocated.
“There are times in the season where we will do a bit of travelling for double headers while in the North Island so it will be demanding but we have experienced players who should be able to cope with it,” Bloxham said.
“It’s a mammoth task to formulate a draw given the logistics and so many variables involved so we respect this is as good as it can be when taking everything into account and our home games are nicely spread throughout the season.
“When you’ve had tough stints away on the road, nothing compares to the energy of your home crowd and every game on our turf will be a well-timed boost.”
Steel membership will go on sale in November with general ticket sales available in January.
The Steel’s 2023 roster comprises shooters George Fisher, Georgia Heffernan and Saviour Tui, midcourters Sam Winders, Kate Heffernan and Renee Savai’inaea and defenders Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit, Kate Burley and Sarahpheinna Woulf. Midcourter Shannon Saunders recently announced her pregnancy and it is not yet known to what extent she will be involved during the season.
