Brendon Egan

team, the Mystics, who scored 878 in round play. Often, it only took the Steel a few passes to get the ball into Fowler-Reid, who was virtually unstoppable under the hoop. On the few occasions, she did miss she was there to scoop up the rebound and make the other team pay. 4. Fast starts The Steel were able to fly out of the starting blocks this season, leading after the first quarter and at halftime in all but one of their games. The only showing they were slow to get going in was against the Tactix in Christchurch, just 48 hours after a van crash, which saw four of their players hospitalised and miss the clash. Even without skipper Wendy Frew, Te Paea Selby-Rickit, Jhaniele Fowler-Reid and Shannon Francois, the Steel found a way to win, outscoring the Tactix 13-5 in the last quarter to prevail in an emotional match and preserve their unbeaten record. During round play, the Steel won nine of their 15 matches by 10 goals or more. Their average winning margin in their 15 round games was 16 goals.

5. Character in the face of adversity

The Christchurch van crash