Southern Steel's nightmare start to campaign continues

The Southern Steel had just lost its third straight game big a big margin. The latest was a 74-40 loss to the Northern Stars in Auckland on Monday night.

Captain Te Huinga Reo Selby-Rickit’s post-match interview painted a pretty difficult picture.

The Southern Steel had just lost its third straight game big a big margin. The latest was a 74-40 loss to the Northern Stars in Auckland on Monday night.

The Stars broke all sorts of records. It was its biggest ANZ Premiership winning margin and its biggest team total in a single game.

The Steel; well it was another night to forget with the group in desperate need of some confidence.

Life without star shooter George Fisher was always expected to be tough, but few expected it would be this tough.

It’s three games to date have gone - 64-38 loss, 57-37 loss, 74-40 loss.

“It’s disappointing. I feel like we are not learning from our games, we are making the exact same mistakes as we have in the first two games,” Selby-Rickit told Sky Sport after the game.

“We talked and talked about it, I don’t know how it’s going to change unless we start doing what we talk about.

“It kind of has to be soon or else this competition is going to be out of our grasp pretty quickly.”

The good news is the Steel is returning to play at its ILT Stadium Southland fortress in Invercargill after three games on the road.

The not-so-good news is the first home outing will be against competition highflyers the Mainland Tactix on Monday night.

“It’s another step up so it’s not going to get any easier. The Tactix are a team you have to score because it’s very hard to get the ball. We just have to step it up.”