Otago will have some empathy for Canterbury but very little in the way of sympathy.
The Volts have named a side featuring six past or present Black Caps for today's season-opening Plunket Shield match in Christchurch, while Canterbury has been decimated by an unfortunate run of injuries and will field a vastly more inexperienced side.
Otago knows all about that. Last summer the team limped from one injury to the next.
There were also some very significant form slumps and one major gap in the mix of the side. The team was missing a frontline spinner until Michael Rippon arrived midway through the four-day campaign.
Otago eventually suffered the indignity of finishing last in all three formats. But the stumps are fitting much more neatly this season for coach Rob Walter.
He has a fully fit squad to pick from and the hard lessons learned from his first year at the helm may even prove helpful.
''It was a real strange season,'' Walter said.
''At one point we had seven broken fingers in the season and that is almost unheard of.
''Then, at other stages, we had some [international] call-ups which is great. And then there was also some lack of form and a lack of artillery in the four-day tournament from a spinning point of view.
''We had different things which were missing at different times. We were never really able to put the puzzle together.''
When Walter took stock at the end of the season it became apparent he needed to boost his stock of seamers.
He signed Matt Bacon and picked up Auckland all-rounder Shawn Hicks. In an unexpected bonus, former international batsman Rob Nicol phoned out of the blue and has transferred south from Auckland.
Nicol brings stability in the top order and quality leadership ''which means that little piece of the puzzle is there now''.
''And we now have Wags [Black Caps left-armer Neil Wagner] for a greater number of games. At the same time Mark Craig has come back from injury and therefore our spinning issues have been lessened.
''That is quite a significant improvement.''
''For me, there are a myriad of reasons why we seem to be in a better position for the start of the season. But things do change and there is generally always a curve ball that gets thrown at you.''
Canterbury's list of wounded includes seamers Ed Nuttall (back), Kyle Jamieson (foot), Nathan McNicol (pectoral tendon) and Henry Shipley (hamstring).
Experienced all-rounder Andrew Ellis is recovering from a broken carpal bone, while pace bowler Matt Henry and batsmen Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls are on international duty.
Leg-spinner Todd Astle has a groin strain and batsman Ken McClure was struck by a bouncer in the warm-up against Otago and has been ruled out.
And there is no Peter Fulton. He retired at the end of the season.
Things have got so desperate, Northern Districts has answered an SOS, oaning Canterbury seamer Brett Hampton. He is one of four players poised to make their first-class debut for Canterbury.
