Steel prepare for double test
If teams thought the Super Sunday might be a chance to catch the unbeaten Southern Steel netball team off guard, then they might be out of luck.
The southern franchise will be looking to continue their march to the finals after five wins on the trot, when they return home for just their second home match of the season as part of the ANZ Premiership Super Sunday against the Northern Mystics, before tackling the Central Pulse on Monday night as part of a gruelling four games in 11 days.
Steel coach Reinga Bloxham says the Steel have been planning meticulously since pre-season for the busy period of the season.
‘‘This was in our thinking since pre-season. Everything that we have done has been leading up to this Super Sunday and how we best prepare ourselves, so it is not something we have just thought about this week,’’ she said.
‘‘It is making sure that we are both physically and mentally ready for those back-to-back games, making sure the girls are doing everything to top standard for their recovery, so that is sleep, rest, nutrition and also trying to put in so we get enough netball training, but not too much,’’ she said.
‘‘It has been quite a balancing act to make sure we get that right.’’
The 2016 ANZ Championship premiers have been in dominant form in 2017, scoring more than 70 goals in each of their five victories so far this season.
Wednesday’s comfortable 73-51 victory over the Northern Stars in Auckland, provided the Steel with an ideal opportunity to rest some of their stars ahead of their double header.
‘‘It was always in my thinking for that game, but moving into Super Sunday we will do what we need to, to get through that,’’ she said. ‘‘We know coming off that game and leading into these next couple of games that it is going to be a big 11 days for us.’’
Bloxham is wary of getting ahead of themselves, especially heading into the double-header against the Mystics and Pulse.
‘‘We firstly prepare for the Mystics game and won’t worry about the Pulse until we have finished the Mystics game.
‘‘That is the most important thing for us.
‘‘That is part of the Super Sunday thing - not getting ahead of yourself and making sure you are focused on the game at hand. We knew that we had to just focus on the Stars game and just do what we needed to do there before we start thinking about the Mystics on Sunday, so it was good to get a win and get everyone out on court and rest a few people here and there as well.’’
The Super Sunday will be held at ILT Stadium Southland, with 500 tickets left for Sunday’s triple header.
The Pulse play the Magic at 2pm, before the Steel take on the Mystics at 4pm, while the Tactix and Stars play in the 6pm match.