Bloxham welcomes Saturday night slots
SATURDAY night fever is looming for Southern Steel netball fans.
The 2023 ANZ Premiership draw released yesterday confirmed seven home games for the southern franchise — three of which have secured the favourable new time slot.
The Steel’s Saturday night showdowns will be against the Magic on March 25 and the Pulse on April 29, both at Stadium Southland in Invercargill, and the Mystics on April 1 at Dunedin’s Edgar Centre.
Head coach Reinga Bloxham is excited to see netball awarded the prime slot in line 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 always a bonus.’’
The other Dunedin game is on April 23 against the Tactix, along with Invercargill games against the Tactix (March 20), the Stars (May 15) and the Magic (May 21).
The 2023 season starts on Saturday, March 4 with a game between the Ascot Park Hotelsponsored Steel and the Mystics in Auckland.
Bloxham is confident her players will be ready for action.
‘‘The early start replicates is 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 demanding doubleheader weekends to contend with, 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 welltimed boost.’’