Central Manawa have an extra week to regroup and work on areas of improvement following a disappointing first-round loss in the Synergy Hair Netball League (NNL).
In a quirk of the draw, Manawa have a second-round bye and will sit out this weekend, hoping the extra week will help get their season back on track after being well beaten 59-44 in their opener against Waikato Bay of Plenty.
The young Manawa team hit a brick wall against a fit, accurate, well-drilled and experienced Waikato Bay of Plenty side where they struggled with their drive and through-court play.
In a shortened season where just the one full round will be played, the bye coming so early is something of a double-edged sword.
"It's the best of both worlds in a sense," Manawa defender Madi Thomas said. "It will be nice to have a week to recover, reassess and come back stronger but the other side is that quick back-to-back games can be good for momentum."
"It's a cut-throat competition this year and we have to get cracking now. We're still working on our through-court attack from the back. It's looking much better and we're trying to get the long clear drives going to clear some space or get a long receive but it's still a bit of a work in progress."
With five intercepts and a deflection, Thomas had a standout game at the back-end of the court for Manawa, the rangy defender, a training partner with the Pulse during the pre-season, is putting full effort into a big campaign as she strives for World Youth Cup selection.
The NZ U21 team will contest the World Youth Cup in Gibraltar in September.
"Everything I'm doing is working in relation to 21s, that's my end goal for the year, so just implementing as much as I can and trying to fill my cup up as much as possible with new information," Thomas said.
Manawa play their next match against the defending champions, the Comets, in Auckland on May 24.