Netball: Steel eager to shine in playoffs

Adine Wilson says there is no pressure on her side. Photo / Getty Images

Free from the weight of public expectation, the only pressure the Southern Steel are feeling as they enter the ANZ Championship playoffs is that which they put on themselves.

The Steel make their first finals appearance in the transtasman league tonight when they take on the Thunderbirds in Adelaide.

Having narrowly scraped into the top four on superior goal percentage after finishing on equal points with the Queensland Firebirds, the Steel are not expected to advance any further than the minor semifinal.

Steel captain Adine Wilson is only too happy for her side to play the role of the underdogs.

"Everyone's really excited, there's no pressure on us at all.

"We know it's going to be a big ask, but we feel confident we have the ability to get out there and beat them again," said Wilson, referring to her side's upset win over the Thunderbirds in round 13.

The southern side's 58-49 win in Dunedin two weeks ago saw the Steel become just the second team to beat the Thunderbirds this year.

But the Adelaide side last week rebounded strongly, producing a brilliant 19-goal drubbing of the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic in the final round.

That game served as a timely reminder for the Steel as to what the Adelaide side are capable of.

But Wilson said the result had not rocked the Steel's self-belief that they could beat the Thunderbirds again.

"Luckily we've played them fairly recently and we've come off a number of games against Australian teams so we think we're placed in a fairly good position mentally and physically coming up against them," she said.

While making the top four was a huge achievement for her side, they were still desperate to go further.

"We didn't just want [to make the semifinals] so we could say, 'Yay, here we are, we've made it,' we want to be in there to compete. We're there to win."