Round one circled for Steel import
The Southern Steel fan’s first look at new import George Fisher in action is likely to be in its ANZ Premiership competition opener against the Tactix in Invercargill on April 18.
The English shooter arrived in New Zealand during the weekend and will spend the next two weeks in isolation before linking up with her new Steel teammates.
Fisher missed the Steel’s first preseason hit out against the Tactix in Timaru last weekend and also will be unavailable for the trip to Queenstown for the game against the Pulse tomorrow.
The Steel will then head to O¯ taki for a preseason tournament the following weekend.
Fisher will come out of isolation on the Saturday and is expected to join the Steel in O¯ taki. However, she won’t play.
Bloxham said while it is disappointing that Fisher would miss all its preseason games she added there was an upside.
‘‘I’m not too worried, it’s good to be able to keep a card up or sleeves and keep something secret from other teams,’’ Bloxham said.
The Steel opened its preseason campaign with two losses against the Tactix in Timaru.
It lost the first game 64-45 on Friday night and then lost 63-47 on Saturday.
Bloxham said the two games were an opportunity to get some game time into the players.
Kiana Pelasio and Renee Sava’inaea both missed the games in Timaru with niggles and are in doubt to play in Queenstown.
The Steel had a large number of players who had yet to play at ANZ Premiership level and Bloxham said there were obvious nerves in the first game before those nerves settled in the second game.
The 2021 campaign is Bloxham’s fifth in charge of the Steel, and she conceded this year would be the most inexperienced lineup.
‘‘We’ve got a lot of players around that 19-21 age-group, and then we’ve obviously got Te Huinga [Selby-Rickit] and Shannon [Saunders] and the other end. I think our average age is about 22.’’
While the Steel has a young squad, Bloxham said they had plenty of players who had been in and around the ANZ Premiership competition, and she was looking forward to letting those players loose.
‘‘There is a bit of developing to do but the competitive nature in me wants to win everything,’’ Bloxham said.