Harcourts have been handed the "draw from hell" after earning themselves promotion to division one of the regional superleague netball competition.
They will play one of the two main contenders for the premier title, St Marys Old Girls, in their opening division one match at Wellington East College this Saturday and
seven days later they will host the other, Pacific Island Church No.1, at the Genesis Recreation Centre in Masterton.
Not only that, of the five preliminary round games they will play Harcourts have drawn just the two at home, the second being that against PIC No.2 on August 8.
"Yes, I suppose you could say it's the draw from hell," Harcourts coach Kelly Sargent said yesterday.
"It would have been nice to start off with something easier than what we've got but I guess we've just got to grin and bear it."
Just how superleague organisers rate Harcourt's chances of making any sort of impression in division one is perhaps best summed up by the Netball Wellington website.
In the draw for the playoffs which commence on the weekend of August 21 and 22 they have already listed Masterton as the venue for the match between the fifth and sixth placed sides in the six-team competition.
"They obviously don't see us as a threat, we're just the country cousins who are basically making up the numbers," Sargent said.
Sargent herself is, however, under no illusions as to the task confronting Harcourts over the next six weeks.
She understands the opposition will be "miles above" what they met in division two, where they finished top of the table on countback after registering four wins and only the one defeat.
"It's a huge mountain to climb but, hey, we're going out there to be as competitive as we can possibly be and if we do that and still get our butts kicked ... well, that's the way it goes".
Sargent doesn't see any point in Harcourts looking to implement a game plan any different to that which proved successful for them in division two play.
"We've talked a lot about the need to play with controlled aggression and it's going to be even more important now," she said.
"We have to really concentrate on things like driving onto the ball, providing options for the ball carrier and getting in the face of the opposition on defence."
Perhaps the biggest challenge for Harcourts though will be coping with the pace of the game which, for most of their players will be much quicker than they have ever experienced.
"I'm pretty happy with our fitness but, boy, it's going to be tested now," Sargent said.