Saying they can be competitive is one thing but experienced midcourt enforcer Ursula Pritchard has implored Bay of Plenty to start believing it after a torrid introduction to the national championship's top tier at Mt Maunganui's TECT Arena.
Bay of Plenty, promoted to the first division this season for the first time in the province's history, were thrashed 62-43 by defending champions Canterbury in front of 1900 spectators at the new $41 million sporting facility.
Bay were competitive for the first 30 minutes, mixing it magically with the Cantabs to split the first quarter 14-apiece.
Within minutes of the restart they'd jumped to a surprise 18-15 lead as possession flowed the length of the court and goal shoot Arahi Wall hit her stride, unafraid to try the long shot.
But Canterbury quickly ironed out kinks across the court in the first game of their season and were well in control by halftime, leading 30-25.
Bay fell to pieces in the third quarter, outscored 19-6 as visiting goal shoot Ellen Halpenny discovered her range, but, with the game beyond salvage, struck back in the final quarter to limit the damage.
Pritchard, promoted to centre just hours before the start of the game, said there were enough good signs to show Bay of Plenty belonged in the first division - although those signs needed to be delivered more consistently across the court to matter.
"It was enjoyable and frustrating all at the same time," the former Welsh international said, "because I believe we can be competitive, although we need to move beyond just saying it - that's the work we need to do.
"We gave a good account of ourselves for two quarters, and that last quarter wasn't too bad either, but we have to learn to fix our errors much, much quicker than we did out there tonight.
"We had three [turnovers] in a row with exactly the same pass in that last quarter. Once is enough and that's what life is going to be like in the top division."
Saturday's opener, like so much netball now, wasn't lacking in intent, with Pritchard and her opposite Hayley Crofts engaging in a running battle and former Silver Fern Maree Bowden needing treatment after copping a stray Tanya Lund elbow in the ear.
Pritchard said the side was predictably upbeat after a silky opening quarter. "Everything was working well - the shots were on and our set moves were good - but half a game's not enough. A few errors got punished and it's hard to work back from that, although it's something we need to learn fast if we want to survive."
Pritchard moved back to her more customary wing defence position in the third quarter, with Laura McDonald taking the centre bib, but enjoyed her cameo as ringmaster after an eleventh hour switch by coach Mary Jane Araroa.
"I didn't even know I'd be there until this morning but enjoyed it. It was nice to be able to help fix things when they go wrong, which you can effect more from centre."
Bowden said they expected to be rusty after their pre-season clash with Otago was canned because of the heavy South Island snowfall.
"We also thought Bay would come out fired up and take it to us so it [the score] wasn't a huge concern. We absorbed it and once we hit our rhythm we were away, although it would have been nice to find it a bit sooner.
"Most teams will come out tough against us."
Canterbury are housed in a temporary training base at Villa Maria College and will play all their home games this season in Timaru.
Match Stats
Canterbury 62 Bay of Plenty Gold 43.
Shooting statistics:
Canterbury: Ellen Halpenny 31/35 (89 per cent), Anna Thompson 27/34 (79 per cent), Shelly Norris 4/7 (57 per cent).
Bay of Plenty: Arahi Wall 36/41 (88 per cent) Harley Smith 6/12 (50 per cent), Tanya Lund 1/4 (25 per cent).
1st quarter: 14-14.
Halftime: 30-25 Cant.
3rd quarter: 49-31.