Southby not a fan of in-game interviews

Southern Steel coach Janine Southby has plenty of sympathy for her Tactix counterpart Sue Hawkins.

The Australian was reprimanded this week for comments about umpires she made in an interview during her team’s loss to the Swifts.

It’s a situation Southby has some empathy for ahead of her team’s vital final home game against the Mystics on Saturday.

‘‘It’s not ideal, because your mind is really focused on what you need to do as a coach. I guess there is always going to be an element of risk with what people so or don’t say. You’ll see moments during the season where we handle it well and when we don’t handle it well.’’

Southby understands the importance of television to her sport and the drive to take viewers as close to the action as possible, she just doesn’t really like it.

‘‘You get people in a pretty emotional state when they are in that moment, which puts pressure on you as a coach. We’ve had a few times where we’ve nearly been caught swearing – for some reason whenever I get handed a microphone we’ve just done something really stupid,’’ Southby joked.

‘‘I’ve been quite keen to hand those times over to [assistant coach Reinga Te Huia] so she gets to experience what it’s like being under that pressure.’’

The Ascot Park Hotel-sponsored Steel, who are hoping for a sell-out crowd for their final home game, will host an in-form Mystics team which has already sewn up top spot in the New Zealand conference.

The Steel sit in third place and have the inside running for a place in the playoffs, but only courtesy of a superior goal percentage than the Central Pulse, who take on the Magic on Monday.