Tairi, and a group of Dunedin-based Steel players, spent part of yesterday afternoon at the Edgar Centre hosting a roadshow for the tournament's major sponsor, the ANZ.
It was a chance to mingle with the community and, when things got a bit quiet, challenge your team-mates to a friendly competition.
Tairi had the better of Steel back-up shooter Te Paea Selby-Rickit, drilling one-handed passes through a circular hole cut out of a life-size hoarding of Jodi Brown. It was rather like one of those stalls you get at a school fair - the ones when you hit a target the teacher gets dunked in cold water.
The ANZ Championship trophy was on display in a tent and there were various other activities, including the triple challenge which involved threading a pass through said hole, scoring a goal and then ripping a tag from the wall. The record was just over two seconds.
''I don't know how they did it that fast,'' Tairi said.
The Steel, of course, had a comfortable 67-52 win against the Mystics in Invercargill on Monday.
''We were pretty happy with that win,'' Tairi said.
''We thought it was one which could go either way but we were pretty confident we could get the win with the way we had trained.''
The wing attack was part of a well-performed attacking unit which included shooter Jodi Brown and Jhaniele Fowler.
Fowler has been a revelation since joining the Steel and hogged the limelight with another remarkable display of accuracy. She landed 53 of her 54 attempts and remains the tournament's leading scorer with 250 goals in five games.
The win went some way towards making up for the disappointing loss to the Pulse two weeks ago.
''Any time you lose it is hard, but especially in a game like that where we had such a good lead and let them come back and win the game. I think we had a point to prove that we could finish off a game, so that was really good for us.''
The Steel hosts the New South Wales Swifts in Invercargill on Monday. It is Tairi's old team but there are no mixed emotions, she said.
''I think there is a bit of white-line fever. You're all friends off the court but as soon as you get on there, you've got to go and do your job.''
Both sides will view the game as a must-win. The Steel has two wins from five games and the Swifts just one win from five games.
The Steel made the playoffs in 2010 with eight wins but nine wins has been the benchmark for the past two seasons.
That means any more than four losses and the chances of making the playoffs become very slim.
Tairi felt the win against the Mystics was the team's best performance to date but there was still plenty of room for improvement.
''For us, we just want to build on [Monday] night and turn up for all four quarters.''
''We had quite a big lead against the Mystics but let them come back at us during that third quarter before we pushed back out. But we are having those sort of moments where we just have a little bit of a lapse and let the other team get close to us again.''
Meanwhile, Steel coach Janine Southby has been linked with the Silver Ferns assistant coaching position. The New Zealand under-21 coach said she needed to discuss it with her husband, Roger, before deciding whether she would apply for the role.
''I'm certainly interested but I still have not had a chance to talk Roger about it,'' she said.
''My priorities are still with the Steel, so I'll reflect on this [win against the Mystics] and then I'll think about it in the next day or two.''
Southby said it was hard work being away from her family and the role would mean more time away.
