Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel v VIP Frames & Trusses Tactix
June 7, 2025
In a damaging blow to its playoff aspirations, the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel succumbed 49-57 to the VIP Frames and Trusses Tactix at ILT Stadium Southland on Saturday.
The headline act in netball’s three-game Super Saturday in the south, the match delivered the arm wrestle everyone predicted initially before the visitors asserted its dominance with destructive patches of play.
The home side was forced to combat a formidable wall of defence from the Tactix. Luckily goal shoot Aliyah Dunn was at her creative best when it came to generating crucial space, ably supported by Kimiora Poi who took on the bulk of the feeding duties.
The Steel was its own worst enemy at times, delivering the ball straight into the hands of its opponent with some miscalculated passes.
The Tactix held the upper-hand throughout the showdown, extending its authority to as much as 12 goals. But the scrappy Steel refused to back off, hauling the deficit back to an assailable 8-goals courtesy of Dunn’s two 2-point super shots heading into the final stanza.
Retaining its spot at the top of the ANZ Premiership table, the Tactix keep the impetus firmly in their favour, denying the Steel a coveted bonus point for their efforts.
An intriguing side hustle emerged as Steel’s coaching duo of Wendy Frew and Liana Leota again went head-to-head with former team-mates Donna Wilkins and Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit at the helm of the Tactix. In 2009, the quintet shared the court as established starters in the Steel team.
Head coaches Frew and Wilkins both earned a reputation as players who loathed losing and nothing has changed as they have progressed into their inaugural season at the helm of their respective teams.
For Frew, the disappointment was profound.
“These losses really hurt. Four losses from five is pretty tough to swallow. We’re going to have to have a good look at ourselves again and try and come back better,” she said.
“It’s not through lack of trying from the girls. We’ve had a great week and the prep has been good with two really solid trainings where we covered what we needed to and prepared for the physicality so it is disappointing.
“While they had the upper-hand, it felt like a game we were in and I had faith the girls would pull it back but we just didn’t manage to haul it in far enough.”
In terms of positives, you can’t go past the return of powerhouse midcourter Kate Heffernan for limited court time.
“It was great to have Kate back out there. She has been working so hard on her rehab and is an absolute true professional in that space. You could see when she was out there her presence lifted the team. She’s our co-captain and has had a lot of games in the Steel dress so it’s really exciting to see her out back. In saying that, I felt all of the players that came on had an impact,” Frew said.
The Steel now hits the road for away matches against the Go Media Stars in Auckland and the Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse in Wellington.
“It might be a good time for us to get on the road and regroup as a team and keep it tight. We need to really come out with two strong performances because this competition is brutal with only two rounds and it’s slowly slipping away from us to make that top three,” Frew said.
The Tactix completed the double after beating their neighbours by seven in Round 1 and, once again, denying the Steel a bonus point.
With their greater accuracy and finishing, the Tactix had the edge across most aspects of the court to lead throughout but were never totally comfortable. The Steel were always in contention and had several surges but couldn’t maintain consistency for long enough.
The Tactix made the most of their opportunities, strong expertise at both ends of the court and the continued value of young centre Holly Mather, helping the visitors keep the Steel at arm’s length.
With the Steel requiring super shots when trailing by eight going in to the last quarter but having little success – Dunn nailing one – the home side were always chasing the game.
In the side as a permanent replacement player, the well-performed Khanye-Lii Munro-Nonoa got the start at goal defence for the Steel while, spoilt for choice, goal shoot Ellie Bird got the starting nod under the hoop for the visitors.
Both sides made bright and breezy starts in an entertaining opening stanza, highlighted by strong attacking play and quick through-court movement.
In her 50th national league match, wing defence Paris Lokotui played her hand in the strong defensive squeeze employed by the Tactix, picking off a couple of turnovers to give her side the early edge.
With expertly-placed ball, the extra height provided by Bird under the hoop helped the Tactix build a four-goal buffer while the visitors’ defence clogged the midcourt advances of the Steel. However, a late rally from the home side left them well in contention when trailing 16-14 at the first break.
As she has all season, goal attack Te Paea Selby-Rickit executed the role of third feeder to perfection as her shooter-to-shooter connection with Bird kept the Tactix well on the front foot.
Plenty of patience was needed by the Steel to thread the ball towards goal, but once there Dunn provided the footwork, strong hold and accuracy to help keep the home side hot on the Tactix heels.
Unable to make definitive inroads, the Steel injected Abby Lawson (goal defence) and Kate Heffernan (wing defence), the Silver Fern getting her first minutes of the season after coming back from injury, with the changes having immediate effect.
The added defensive impact enabled the Steel to deliver a strong surge to close the gap but the well-drilled Tactix unleashed a telling finishing burst to regain their hold on the game and a 32-26 lead at the main break.
A 5-1 start to the third quarter by the Tactix had the Steel scrambling. Unable to contain the profitable impact of the interplay between Selby-Rickit and Bird prompted the tall figure of Kate Lloyd to take over at goalkeeper for the home side.
However, the all-round pressure across the court, where Karin Burger, Jane Watson and Lokotui were relentless, continued to take the sting out of the Steel’s challenge.
The Steel’s defensive changes gradually began to take effect with more turnover opportunities helping the home side deliver a much-needed late rally. With no successful super shots through to this point, Dunn delivered twice in the closing minutes to lift hopes in the Steel ranks.
Trailing by as many as 11 during the third quarter, the Steel still had work to do but had trimmed the margin to 45-37 at the last turn following an untidy finish from the visitors.
Official Result and Stats:
Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel: 49
VIP Frames & Trusses Tactix: 57
Shooting Stats - Steel:
Aliyah Dunn 36/40, super shot 3/5
Georgia Heffernan 7/9, super shot 0/5
Shooting Stats - Tactix:
Ellie Bird 37/42
Te Paea Selby-Rickit 9/9, super shot 0/1
Martina Salmon 11/14
ANZ Fans' Player of the Match: Paris Lokotui (Tactix)
