After all, the Northern Stars midcourter spent four seasons training alongside many of their players when she was at the Mainland Tactix.
But Auckland were up to the challenge, beating Christchurch Red 36-30 at the national championships at the Edgar Centre in Dunedin on Saturday.
They became the first side to topple Christchurch all week and returned home with the New Zealand Cup in hand, the first win for the province since 2009 when they won as Auckland-Waitakere.
"Auckland haven’t won in a very long time, so to take it home is kind of special," Nathan said.
The Auckland captain was proud of her team’s effort against a tough Christchurch side.
"I know they’re nothing but class and they’re absolute workhorses. I knew even with tired bodies, and after a long week, they were still going to give us a good run for our money.
"But I also thought that it was quite good that we hadn’t had them throughout the whole competition.
"We just stuck to what we knew and it paid off for us."
Her side had to grind out their game and chipped away quarter by quarter to break through.
Christchurch went up by three in the first quarter, but Auckland, as they had all week, fought back to level the game 10-10 at the first break.
Auckland defenders Catherine Hall and Charlotte Manley were a towering presence and worked well together to shut down Kate Grant and Mainland Tactix shooter Vika Koloto.
Their influence made it hard for Christchurch to find openings, and they picked up a couple of intercepts to give Auckland an 18-15 lead at halftime.
Northern Stars shooter Jamie Hume’s court work was sublime, ushering the ball around the circle for Auckland and helping set up Lavina Lavea at the back, who slotted 22 of her 25 attempts.
Hume’s work rate lifted, helping them push out 22-15 midway through the third.
But Christchurch mounted a comeback. Replacement goal defence Charlotte Knight stole an intercept in the circle and they played with patience on attack, prepared to work the ball around to find the opening.
They closed the gap to 26-22 at the third-quarter break.
A 6-1 start to Auckland handed them a nine-goal lead, but Christchurch again clawed back within three.
Nathan had a lovely thread-the-needle feed to Lavea, and Auckland withstood Christchurch’s attack to win by six.
A minute’s silence was held for coaching great Robyn Broughton, who died last week, and many staff and players paid tribute to her.
"She was an absolute legend of our game and without leaders like Robyn our game would not have evolved to what it is today," Nathan said.
Invercargill finished eighth at the championships and Dunedin 11th.
National championships
The scores
Auckland 36
Lavina Lavea 22/25, Jamie Hume 14/15
Christchurch 30
Kate Grant 14/18, Vika Koloto 16/17
Quarter scores: 10-10, 18-15, 26-22.
