Steel a big challenge for Vixens Bianca Chatfield. Photo: Stephen McKenzie For the first time the Southern Steel is the competition's outstanding New Zealand team, a position endorsed by Melbourne Vixens captain Bianca Chatfield. "I think they're the strongest team coming out of New Zealand," said Chatfield, who attributes much of the Steel's improvement to the 198-centimetre presence of Jamaican shooting import Jhaniele Fowler. It's easily the strongest team they've had, and I think a lot of credit comes down to Fowler, and also how [goal attack] Jodi Brown feeds her. Fowler's league-high 412 goals in her eight games has lifted the Steel into fourth place with five wins, including last week over reigning premier Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic. Three Australian teams - the Thunderbirds, Firebirds and Vixens - head the table, but the unequal nature of the trans-Tasman draw should help to guarantee the Invercargill outfit its first final in three years. The Steel finished fourth in 2009 and 2010, but both times behind the Magic, the only team to have achieved a top-three result in each of the league's five seasons. But the Steel prevailed 65-58 in round nine to equal its best winning streak of four matches, with recruits Rachel Rasmussen and Sulu Tone-Fitzpatrick having stiffened the defence, and Fowler converting 44 of her 46 attempts. "She's made a huge difference," said Chatfield of Fowler. When you can bring in a shooter who is averaging over 50 goals a game, that's enormous. So to Monday night, and a must-win game between two against the Firebirds. The approach will be similar, said Chatfield, "but I think it's a good lesson that we learnt against the Firebirds, in that you can't wait for the ball to get down to Romelda [Aiken] before you try and get it off her, you've really got to do the defensive work up the court. We expect Fowler to be under the post. While the Vixens continue to use various shooting combinations, with mixed results, coach Simone McKinnis challenged her team to respond to its last-start loss with an all-court defensive effort.