A burnished Steel finish
impervious to assault. Which isn’t to say it was unchallenged. It was assailed good and hard – but when these players were struck, they scintillated. A16-0 record might give the impression that the finals were the ceremonial conclusion of a season-long victory parade. But hard-won is hard-won, even when the results are, in the end, emphatic.
Some northern commentators have suggested the story of the season was essentially one of just sending long balls into the general direction of team titan Jhaniele Fowler-Reid and watching the scoreline whirr.
But here’s the thing. The team has had the services of this spectacular Jamaican since 2013 and it’s hardly as if she’s only this season figured out how to play. Under coach Reinga Bloxham the team’s strengths have been wellforged, developing alreadyconsiderable abilities as a faststarting, mobile, well-tuned and spirited outfit.
Certainly that last quality was tested when a van crash in Christchurch just 16 days before the final depleted the roster seriously, with four players hospitalised and the massively respected captain Wendy Frew requiring surgery. The rest of the squad promptly stepped up for a win against the Mainland Tactix and Frew’s return, alongside Te Paea Selby-Ricket, for the final against the Central Pulse only added to the emotional wallop of end-of-season elation.
Inevitably, victory at this level revives memories of the glories of the Sting’s run in the early 2000s. Careless comparisons are not required. Each championship win deserves to be savoured in and of itself. In that respect the 2017 Steel squad has joined the pantheon of southern sporting success.
It would be a fine thing if Fowler-Reid were to remain with the Steel, not just for her personal abilities but because this squad, though fairly young, has also been a pleasingly settled one, all the stronger as a result. Add a championship win to defend next year, in the midst of a province where the fan base is enviably large and ardent, and you surely have something to be getting on with.
But the future is unwritten and, for now, we have a squad to celebrate not only for the attainment of a goal, but for the strength of character and camaraderie shown in attaining it.