Match Report Steel v Stars – Round 9
June 7, 2026
Posting the highest score of the season so far in beating the Stars 71-59, the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel has snatched back second in the premiership ladder.
With their spot in the Finals Series confirmed, the prospect of hosting the crucial match on home turf added plenty of fuel for the Steel.
The Stars clearly had a point to prove themselves and rammed home the message when dominating the opening stages of the match. Their sheer speed on attack left the Steel defence flailing at times as ambitious long bombs found their mark under the post.
The Steel clawed back the deficit to draw level 20-all in the second phase and a good old-fashioned arm wrestle ensued before the southerners took control to lead 34-29 at halftime.
Goal shoot Aliyah Dunn proved a master manipulator, drawing the Stars defenders into her ploy to earn the penalties – her prowess under the post ensuring Steel never relinquished its advantage.
Head coach Wendy Frew opted to test a range of combinations with every player taking the court with seamless accuracy, each proving their merit.
“I’m really proud of the girls. I thought it was a good team effort throughout the court and obviously you saw a lot of changes and each of the players contributed really well to the performance and brought some good energy into the game,” she said.
“We’ve had Kimi (Poi) out in the midcourt now and we’re bringing new centres in and it’s a massive ask if you haven’t been getting a lot of court time to go and play 60 minutes at this level. So, we’re trying to just be smart around that and seeing what combinations work with what, and how people go under pressure in different situations in the game.
“When you come into finals, every pass, every little thing matters so we want to make sure all of our players are really ready to go and can step up to that intensity.”
Securing home court advantage for the playoffs depends on the outcome of Sunday’s round 10 match against the VIP Frames and Trusses Tactix at ILT Stadium Southland.
“Tactix are a quality side and really strong throughout the court. We know it’s going to be pretty tough. The reality is we could be playing them twice in the row so we’ll take one game at a time and make sure we prepare really well this week, taking a good look at them and making sure we have our own game plan robust to try and combat them with a big performance at home,” Frew said.
“This year has been a lot about ourselves and what we produce out there. We certainly look at the opposition and will respect the Tactix a lot, but we will go back and look at our own games and see where we can make some improvement.”
Frew spoke about the team’s penchant for statistics and will no doubt enjoy crunching the numbers after a powerful second half showing against the Stars.
“We’re a group that loves stats so we focus a lot on our numbers. A lot of our plays are around that and percentage plays and making sure we keep positive possession, then on centre pass d we need to break so many of theirs. So yeah, we enjoy that focus.”
The Steel came back from a slow start to deliver a forceful outing at the business end of the season while consigning the Stars to a fifth consecutive loss.
Trailing early, the well-drilled visitors raised the bar from the start of the second quarter and didn’t look back on their way to producing the highest score of this year’s competition.
Dunn, the league’s most accurate shooter, was at her imperious best with a standout 54 shots from 55. Her opposite Amelia Wlamsley was equally efficient with 46 from 50 but the Stars, in a regular trend of the season, could not sustain their strong start, and eventually could not contain the relentless Steel.
With both sides missing their influential Silver Ferns midcourters and captains, the experienced and versatile Samon Nathan took over the centre bib from the injured Mila Reuelu-Buchanan.
With Kimiora Poi ruled out for the rest of the domestic season, the Steel opted for her sister Ashleigh Poi to slip into centre while interim replacement player, Queensland’s Jessie Laga’aia, who filled the midcourt role admirably last week, started from the bench.
The Stars got off to a flyer, led by Nathan in the midcourt, the home side were quick and accurate on attack with perfect ball finding its way into the hands of lofty shooter Walmsley.
Stretching out to a five-goal advantage, the Stars took a measure of control, helped by their own high standard of play as well as feeding off errors from a jittery Steel attack line. With defenders Khanye-Lii Munro-Nonoa and Carys Stythe doing their bit to secure turnover opportunities, the visitors worked their way back into the frame.
Narrowing the margin, it was still the Stars, who held on to a 16-13 lead at the first break.
Never afraid to come from behind, the Steel did just that during a decisive second spell.
The entertaining, fast-flowing nature of the contest continued with long well-executed passes through court being a feature. But increasingly, it was the Steel who gained the stronger foothold.
Chipping away at the deficit, the Steel levelled and then hit the lead for the first time six minutes in with in-form shooter Dunn showing her smarts with her poise, positioning and accuracy.
Both sides swapped their centres with youngster Teuila Sotutu coming on for Nathan and Laga’aia for Poi, and that proved a turning point. The fluent Laga’aia came on seamlessly as the Steel clicked up a gear on attack while the Stars became increasingly rattled and forced into error.
Pushing on and with Georgia Heffernan nailing a two-point shot, the Steel turned the tables in the best possible fashion to take a 34-29 lead into half-time.
Neither side took a backward step in a high quality and high-scoring third stanza. With new personnel featuring across both teams, the sides levelled-pegged on the scoring sheet with key targets Walmsley and Dunn a strong presence under their respective hoops.
Claire O’Brien, for the Stars, and the Steel’s Laga’aia were pivotal in the midcourt with their accurate feeds and controlling of the respective attack lines, the accuracy from both sides preventing either team from getting the jump.
In control of the arm-wrestle, a Dunn two-pointer on the buzzer ensured the southerners kept their noses in front when leading 52-46 at the last turn.
