For Kupa there's room for differences but the sum of those differences lead to the customary practices at a higher threshold.
"Finals netball is about, for your own peace of mind, doing some things a little differently in terms of taking in the atmosphere first up," says Kupa, looking forward to the game for a "new-look Otane".
"For us it's more about taking the atmosphere in early just to settle in because we haven't had that coming into the final," says Kupa who has questioned the hunger of her favourites after an unexpected loss to Napier Girls High School Senior A shortly before the playoffs.
The Farmers Hastings store manager doesn't need reminding that All In have a fan base which paints the bleaches purple so factoring in the crowd-fight factor becomes paramount.
Ironically Otane lost last year's final to Outkast Optimise Physio but the perennial powerhouses aren't going there.
"It's not in our minds at all. We know what the issues were last year," says Kupa, revealing they had four starting players out of the equation.
"This year we have no excuses."
For Barham it's the beginning of the fruition of a three-year labour of love offering a sense of fulfilment on the foundation of some much-needed energy.
She doesn't want to devalue the inaugural concept of a four-round shield competition to spice up the competition but for All In the championship final is the real deal.
"The [shield] was only three rounds but this [championship] is what you train for," she says, adding the season will boil down to 60 minutes tonight at the Pettigrew-Green Arena, Taradale.
The belief kicked in last Friday night when they, slowly but surely, dismantled Hastings High School Old Girls Proactive Huias 54-40 in the semifinals.
"We won and it was a good day so at the end of the day there's growth there," she says, revealing she's lost two players in Brigitte Hollander, a former secondary schools' trialist to an ACL injury, and shooter Timara Wereta who is unavailable due to other commitments although she'll be there as a spectator.
"It's like that light-bulb moment - Oh, look, they got that bit," she says of a season where there was a bit of that but also when things didn't quite pan out the way they intended.
Barham is hoping those incremental gains will come together tonight.
"For us it's important to prepare as we normally prepare and not change anything.
"We keep pre-game routines the same, our training routines the same and we want to finish it off by putting our best game out there."
She's delighted with those "light-bulb" moments which illuminated their path at pivotal moments on the unpredictable road to the final.
Barham feels her girls got a taste of that sort of accomplishment last Friday in two years of trying to develop a template.
"You know, that's learning for them to be able to put a game out like that on court and be in the right place and at the right time.
"It's not just about trying because it's the final or semis but about working harder and working smarter."
The New Zealand Secondary Schools netball assistant coach recently returned from a Silver Ferns camp and she's lifted a few concepts she feels will enrich the development of All In.
"You know, even at the Silver Ferns camps, they are working on the basics in their first trainings - letting the balls go and building those connections.
"It's good to see it happening at all levels - sometimes you go away from an environment thinking it's all different but it's simply about doing the basics well under pressure."
From where Barham finds her perch, there's no desire at all to pull a rabbit out of a hat or twirl her fingers to turn a handkerchief into a pretty pigeon.
"You've got to believe in magic, though, and I believe that magic's within and that's back to the basics because it enables you to play good netball.
"If you don't have a good technical foundation you can't stick to the game plan."
Kupa says while they have beaten All In twice - in the shield final and the second round of the championship - all of that goes straight out of the window.
"It's back to zero-zero because we're going into a different type of environment of finals netball so it's where the leaders step up to take control of the game," she says.
Kupa laughs when asked about her straying into the shooting circle in the 48-42 semifinal victory over NGHS, a role she used to fulfil earlier in her career. But she says it's all part of Otane's plan to adhere to the requirements of the adjustment bureau.
"I was in there for my experience for taking better options in the attacking circle so that's what the change was for and, obviously, not my pace or shooting."
From 6.15pm, HHSOG Huias play NGHS in the 3rd/4th playoffs.
