She's known for her unorthodox training methods, but Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic coach Noeline Taurua admits even she is nervous about their new regime she hopes will end four years transtasman title misery.
Taurua has always done things a little differently. Last year she got her squad canoeing 86km down the Whanganui River, but has this season completely overhauled her methods, putting a heavy accent on players taking personal responsibility in a bid to lift Magic to the top of the ANZ Championship pile.
Rotorua-based Taurua is eager to spy Magic's ANZ Championship rivals in action at this weekend's pre-season tournament at Mount Maunganui's TECT Arena, the first time since the inception of the competition in 2008 that all 10 teams have contested the lead-in event, but is just as keen to see how her players respond to the new system.
Her impression after a three-month buildup (two weeks of it without the side's Silver Ferns while they were in camp in Auckland) was that the First Windows-sponsored side was better prepared than ever.
"But I'll only be able to gauge that this weekend, seeing how the changes we've implemented have paid off. Having been around for a long time and having a lot to reflect back on, we've raised out standards and are higher than we've ever been in terms of on and off-court discipline and what we expect of each other."
There seems to be little in the way of whacky theories or mumbo-jumbo behind what Taurua has brought to the franchise in her fifth season in charge. Put simply, she's raised the intensity at the side's training sessions and has put added heat on her players to fend for themselves more off the court.
From little things like being at training on time and getting their own laundry taken care of through to keeping the standards high at practise, Taurua has asked her players to be more accountable during the six months she's got them.
"Our whole training routine has been flipped upside down. We've added so much more intensity and are way ahead of where we'd usually be at this time.
"Ed [Goldsmith], my partner, asked me why I have to keep changing things rather than just doing what we've always done, but the point it we've been there, done that, and while we've accumulated some really good stats when you look back over four years, when it comes down to it we haven't done the business.
"We've got a good foundation of players who've been with the Magic for such a long time and are very loyal but unless I provide freshness to the whole thing then we're doing things for no particular reason.
"We have to move and be open to what we've been doing off the court and why we've been doing it, as well as expecting and demanding a better performance when we're training, not just doing it because that's the way we've always done it if it hasn't been performance based or getting a winning culture."
Rather than incorporating warmups as part of the training schedule Magic players organise their own warmups before training starts, with the expectation they'll be ready to go when Taurua steps on court.
Consequences have been added for any breaches, although the transtasman tourney is hardly the NRL and boys gone wild.
"We've yet to see how it translates to on court, but if we went along the same lines how can we expect anything different than what we have already produced? Right now we're challenging ourselves and training new things because we're not happy with below-par."
This weekend will also be Magic's first outing in their new team uniform, which was launched and blessed at dawn last Thursday at the base of Mauao.
The new design incorporates yellow, red, blue and black and draws on the heart of Maori mythology and the story of fire goddess Mahuika, which is integral to Waiariki (Bay of Plenty) and Waikato.
Taurua said the Magic and players thought the new uniform was stunning when it was unveiled.
"It's got substance behind it which I quite like, and all together the girls look quite striking in it. Because there's a story or message behind it it adds a bit of bone and is something we buy into. We can use quite a lot of that [to motivate the team]."