SOUTHERN Steel showcased their class and determination in Round 3, downing Central Pulse 56-52 in a thriller. The Steel led throughout the game but were put through their paces by the reigning premiers who put on a physical showing but could not quite do enough to take the ascendancy.

The Southern Steel made a fast start to the game with George Fisher taking no time at all to hit the scoreboard. The Steel’s ability to capitalise off the turnover was impressive as they piled on the pressure before Aliyah Dunn found her rhythm under the post for the Pulse. Taneisha Fifita inserted herself in the action immediately with her read of the play and aerial ability to collect two intercepts in the opening stages of the game. Her overall defensive pressure forced passes to go astray with wing attack Whitney Souness struggling to find her rhythm in attack. Injury struck midway through the term with speedster Maddy Gordon down with an ankle injury and subsequently forced to the sideline, forcing Paris Lokotui to be entered into the action.

The Pulse really laboured in attack with Fifita reading the play like a book to not only reel in intercepts but so too pick up the loose ball. Her attacking tendencies enabled the Steel to stream down the court as the Steel piled on five consecutive goals to extend the lead to seven goals. Dunn was unable to find any easy access to the post forcing Te Amo Amaru-Tibble to shoulder the load while down the other end Fisher was controlling proceedings and winning the battle against Kelera Nawai who racked up the penalties. With the lead getting out to as many as seven goals, a string of three goals enabled the Pulse to cull the margin to four.

Gordon re-entered the game in wing defence using her signature zip and hustle to go toe-to-toe with Shannon Saunders. The battle between Tiana Metuarau and Kelly Jury caused plenty of interest with Metuarau exploiting her speed along the baseline to avoid the long arms of Jury. Dunn started to find a bit more room in the circle using her angles to hold off Fifita but Fisher said anything you can do, I can do better and demanded the ball in the circle. The Steel started to build attacking momentum nailing three goals straight to create a six goal lead.

The contrast between the sides was obvious as the Pulse applied more of a patient approach, willing to swing the ball around the circle while the Steel looked to go with speed. The defensive combination of Fifita and Te Huinga Selby-Rickit was causing all sorts of havoc for the Pulse as the pair combined seamlessly to clog up the space and shut down the Pulse’s every move. The Pulse had their chances to capitalise winning back their fair share of ball in attack but they continued to lose it through transition credit to the defensive work done from the Steel. Both centres in Kate Heffernan and Claire Kersten nullified each other throughout the contest with the pair using their speed of play and netball smarts to dictate the flow of the game.

Holding a handy lead the Steel looked to push on despite a couple of changes with Ali Wilshier coming on in wing attack and Saunders moved into centre. The physicality inside the goal circle continued as Fisher and Nawai locked horns. Souness started to come into play for the Pulse with her vision and silky footwork coming to the fore as she spurred her side on to nail three goals in a row. Lokotui worked gallantly around circle edge to pressure Wilshier on the pass and take away her space.

The fortunes started to change as the quarter went on with the Steels’ movement becoming stagnant in attack while the Pulse started to play with freedom. Cutting the margin to two goals the Pulse had their tails up with Jury taking advantage of her long arms to cause disruption and reel in the intercepts. A renewed sense of confidence filtered across the Pulse outfit with Dunn coming up huge with an intercept at the transverse line and subsequent layup to finish the passage of play off and level the scores. It got testing in the final three minutes of the game with both sides contesting every single pass and throwing themselves at the crosscourt ball.

The final term of play saw the Steel return to their original starting seven with Heffernan in centre and Saunders running the attacking unit in wing attack. Kersten got busy with her hustle in defence while the Pulse used their speed and strong connections to weave their way down the court. Scores were level with 10 minutes left in the game before the Steel started to motor and really put their foot down with Metuarau causing a huge deflection and prompting her side to establish and hold onto a four goal lead.

It was another dominant shooting performance for Dunn who slotted 38 goals from 39 attempts at 97 per cent while partner in crime Amaru-Tibble made her presence felt with 14 goals from 18 attempts while also racking up 15 goal assists. Souness was crafty with ball in hand racking up 16 goal assists, 32 centre pass receives and also showed her defensive tendencies with three deflections. Jury was the most dominant defender for the Pulse managing four gains two of which were intercepts. Fisher continued on her merry way under the post with 48 goals at 92 per cent while Metuarau sat at 100 per cent accuracy with her eight goals and 29 goal assists. Fifita was deadly in defence thanks to her four intercepts and three deflections.