Silver Ferns assistant coach Waimarama Taumaunu's netball brain has been ticking over at high speed since the New Zealanders' 43-48 opening loss to Australia in Adelaide on Sunday.
With two more tests to come - in Wellington on Thursday and Auckland on Sunday - Taumaunu knows exactly where the Silver Ferns need to target immediate improvement.
The obvious area is in the shooting circle, where evergreen goal shoot Irene van Dyk uncharacteristically faltered in the final 15 minutes as towering goal keeper Susan Fuhrmann shut down the supply of ball into the South African-born shooter.
Van Dyk, for once giving away height in the circle, will be looking for an improved effort on Thursday. The key to that could well lie with the work she does off the ball - her usually effective holding game wasn't working in Adelaide, as Fuhrmann did a sterling job in tracking her player.
"If you're too stationary, a defender can settle on you and keep you in vision without having to do too much work," Taumaunu explained.
"If there's movement, it's much harder to keep the ball and your player in view at the same time.
"And if you can get the defender's head moving, at some point she has to lose sight of either the ball or the attacker."
However, Taumaunu is also demanding improvements right through the court, beginning with putting more pressure on the dangerous Australian midcourt.
Centre Natalie von Bertouch and wing attack Lauren Nourse were allowed too much leeway in bringing the ball downcourt in Adelaide, and Taumaunau, renowned as a player and an astute defensive coach,
is looking for them to be shut down more in Wellington.
"We've got some work to do on defence outside the circle - I think we can do better there," she said. "I think wing attack and centre, their access to the ball was too easy and they were allowed to get straight cuts to the ball."
Taumaunu said New Zealand's defensive work outside the circle was not as intense as it been previously, and the whole team would need to lift their work rate to keep sustained pressure on the Australian attack.
"I'd like to see us get a little bit more more ball defensively through the middle of the court, and our shooters to put more pressure on from a defensive point of view."
She was reasonably satisfied with the effort put in by the two defensive combinations tested in the hour-long match - Casey Williams and Katrina Grant in the first half, Williams and Leana de Bruin in the second.
"I thought the number of gains we got was OK, and largely picked up in the in-circle, so we were able to put two different combinations on and they both functioned effectively," Taumaunu said.
However, the main failing from Sunday's game was clear. The Australians rolled out their customary tough defensive game, and the Silver Ferns wilted under pressure.
"The Australian defensive effort was pretty much what we always get, and we didn't stand up to it. I think we allowed it, over time, to wear us down and lead us into mistakes.
"The Australians put us under sustained pressure, and the two or three minutes when you crack under that kind of pressure is all it takes to win test matches."
