But even by those standards Southern United’s trip tomorrow will be a tough one.
The squad will be up around 4am tomorrow before its game against Hawke’s Bay United in Napier.
It has to be at the airport at 5am for a 6am flight.
Kick off is at 1pm.
Coach Terry Boylan said it was a far from ideal way of preparing for an important match.
However, it was something the side had faced many times before.
"You’ve got to deal with it," he said.
"It’s the same for some other places like Hawke’s Bay and your Hamiltons and your Tasmans and stuff like that.
"Everyone’s got to travel, but I’m sure if it was one of the big three, or four, there would be complaints about it.
"That’s what happens when you’re one of the minnows; it’s part and parcel of it.
"But going forward it will hopefully gel and knit the squad a bit more together."
Southern is coming off a bye week, although prior to that it claimed a 2-1 win over Waitakere United.
Hawke’s Bay’s situation is worse, having had the past two weeks off.
While the bye had stalled some of Southern’s momentum the side had been training and played a local game last week.
It had also allowed its players to refresh and it would be a fully healthy squad which went into tomorrow’s match.
The sides drew 2-2 when they last met in a physical encounter in Dunedin.
Boylan expects physicality again and knows the threat Hawke’s Bay poses on the counter-attack.
"They’re a very counter-attacking team.
"They like to win a lot of second-phase ball and they like to attack with vigour and with flair.
"That’s defending higher up the park. They’ll be wanting to press us and dispossess us in our own half, make the transition into attack very quick.
"That’s where they’ve got a lot of their goals from, they press high."
It shapes as an important match in the context of the competition as well.
Just over a month remains and the table is still congested.
Southern is seventh on 16 points, but just three outside the top four. Hawke’s Bay is one point behind.
For Boylan though, that is not relevant.
He said the team’s focus was on each individual game and what it could control.
