Sport + Motorsport
The Southern Steel are one win away from the ANZ Premiership grand final — and head coach Wendy Frew has been here before.
The Steel host the Tactix in an Elimination Final at ILT Stadium Southland on Sunday, with a spot in next weekend's decider against the Mystics in Auckland on the line. Lose and the season is over.
Frew won two ANZ Premiership titles as captain, the last in 2018, and her players have been asking about it.
"The girls have asked me a few questions about it recently which is really cool because, to be honest, I'm pretty humble about it so don't bring it up too much. When I've been asked, it's been great to tell them about the journey and share those key moments from the game and about our culture which, for me, was the reason we got it over the line," Frew said.
"2018 is definitely among the best memories of my netball career. It was just a remarkable year. To finish my playing career on a win like that in the final, I still smile about it now all these years later. I've watched it about 20 billion times and I could tell you play by play the last three and a half minutes exactly."
She is not pretending Sunday will be easy. The Tactix pushed the Steel hard in round 10, and Frew expects them to arrive more physical and more determined.
"It's going to be a slog – the Tactix are a great side. For us, we need to think outside the square a bit and make sure we aren't predictable in what we do. We're going to have to go up another notch," she said.
"It's going to come down to pressure moments. A lot of these players haven't experienced finals pressure before so it's going to come down to those little one percenters, chasing those loose balls, going in for rebounds, that one v one defence. I can't wait."
Midcourt player Serina Duanakamakama was still at school the last time the Steel made the playoffs in 2021.
"It's kind of crazy. Looking back now, I was just a baby dreaming about an opportunity like this," she said. "I'm super, super proud. The amount of work we've put in this season, to see it all coming together is really nice to see."
Vice-captain Georgia Heffernan is in line for her first finals appearance and is not understating what it means.
"I'm so proud of this team. The growth we've had this season and also building on from last year, it's really exciting. We've worked really hard and we deserve to be where we are," Heffernan said.
"We have so much to play for and doing it in front of our crowd, it would be so cool to do it for this community. They turn up week in, week out – even over the years when we weren't winning. We're doing it for each other and we're doing it for the southern region."
A packed ILT Stadium Southland crowd is expected. Frew knows what that means to the region.
"There's a real vibe around Southland at the moment. It's a real honour and privilege to create that and we just want to do the fans proud and make sure they get a good spectacle and know at the end of the game that every single player and management from the Steel has put everything out there and there's no 'what ifs'."