Saturday night, specifically, against the Queensland Firebirds, the reigning premiers from a trans-Tasman competition that no longer exists. In its place is the eight-team Suncorp Super League, in which the Giants were the only one of the three new teams to prevail in round one, and the Melbourne Vixens, depleted by key personnel losses but still able to retain a league-high seven players from their 2016 list, sensationally upset the Diamond-encrusted Magpies 58-55.

"We're meant to be the dream team and we're meant to be this and we're meant to be that, but we're a team that have just come together," Keppich-Birrell said. "And people who want to challenge us and say 'you're a team of champions and you'll never be a champion team', well, I challenge them back in the fact that these guys have had, I think it's 14 sessions together as a team.

"It wouldn't matter who you had on your list; to take a team of 10 people who haven't played together before and expect them to play at the top level consistently in the first round is unrealistic. We know we've got a long way to go and we're excited by that, and by the glimpses of what we can do that you saw on the weekend. We're looking to have that for 60 minutes and when they do they'll be amazing."

Now, at least, it is clearer what needs fixing, and the over-reliance (47 of 55 goals) on heroic shooter Caitlyn Thwaites was an obvious issue, as young goal attack Alice Teague struggled to make an impact against her former side. Australian centre Kim Ravaillion was benched at half-time for Shae Bolton, although Keppich-Birrell said the one-time Firebird had responded well in the build-up to her first match against her former team.

"I think we saw a true reflection of the great person she is," the first-year coach said of Ravaillion. "She knows that in this team we've got a midcourt who can come on and off the court and bring different things. So she didn't do much wrong but we were looking for something else in there to have impact and that's why the change was made.

"Kim's response was, 'well, I'm gonna get better and I'm going to be more consistent and I'm also going to work on the connections with the three other midcourters around me'. So I guess it's an unusual position for her; probably for the last four years probably not having been taken off the court, but it's just another bit of motivation for her. She's just a brilliant athlete."

Keppich-Birrell is excited by the goal circle contests she expects will play a big part in determining Saturday's result, with Sharni Layton to renew her long rivalry with Firebirds stalwart Romelda Aiken, and Thwaites opposed at the other end by Laura Geitz's highly regarded young successor, Laura Clemesha.

"I think all the teams that have managed to keep a core group of players certainly have the edge at this time of the season. They've already got some of those in-built connections happening," she said. "So I think they'll keep growing with the fact that they've obviously got a new back-end on there, but they were great last week and we're really looking forward to the challenge of coming up against a team who are still the reigning premiers."