The Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel has been dealt a blow with international shooter George Fisher ruled out of the ANZ Premiership season.
There’s been a major re-shuffle in the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel ranks for 2024 including a raft of returning players, all with an intimate knowledge of how things work in the south.
Experienced shooter Jennifer O’Connell will return to the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel for the 2024 ANZ Premiership season.
Highly rated South African Proteas defender Jeante Strydom will bring her talents to the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel next season.
Based in Invercargill, the Steel were formed in 2007 and represent the Netball South Zone which embraces Southland and Otago.
The Steel resulted from the merger between two former National Bank Cup teams, the Southern Sting and Otago Rebels. The Steel subsequently becoming a founding team when netball launched into the semi-professional era with the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship in 2008.
Robyn Broughton was appointed the team’s first coach with Jenny-May Coffin and Megan Hutton named as co-captains.
The Steel had their best season in the final year of the ANZ Championship in 2016 when they won the minor premiership but subsequently lost the New Zealand Conference Final.
The Steel celebrated the introduction of the new elite ANZ Premiership domestic league in 2017 in style when claiming the inaugural title, completing a 16-match season unbeaten. They retained the title in 2018.
The Steel’s playing strip contains a mix of the burgundy/cerise and blue colours of Southland and Otago. The team’s home venues are ILT Stadium Southland, in Invercargill and the Edgar Centre, in Dunedin.