Lock the next.
When Julia Gorinski is not organising the finances for the region’s farmers, she has her head down in the second row of the Otago Spirit women’s rugby team.
And that is just how she likes it.
The 27-year-old is in her eighth season with the Spirit and is as enthusiastic now as when she started out.
Gorinski is one of the familiar faces in a side featuring plenty of new names.
"We had lost 14 players and then prop Eilis Doyle did her ACL, so we’ve lost 15 players now," Gorinski said.
"So we’ve lost a lot of players but we’ve definitely trained more and have a more organised team and a really good coaching set-up.
"It is not that we haven’t had that previously, but in that respect we are a lot more well-prepared."
Gorinski, who grew up on the Taieri, knows the value of preparation. That is how she is able to juggle her career as an agri-business manager at Westpac and the demands of competing in the Farah Palmer Cup.
Gorinski has a portfolio of rural customers and is on the road for "two or three days a week".
"I try to make it two days during the busy rugby season," she said.
"It is certainly busy but work is very flexible. They left it up to me to make my own plans. I’m very lucky in that respect."
The Spirit open their campaign against Wellington in Porirua tomorrow.
It will be a difficult match-up for an undersized Otago unit.
The Spirit has typically looked to play with width and stretch the bigger teams that way.
They have lost some class players with the likes of Rosie Kelly and Black Fern midfielder Amy du Plessis transferring to Canterbury.
Outside backs Meg Breen and Trisha Hopcroft and halfback Rosie Buchanan-Brown have also moved on.
There is still plenty of experience, even with those players gone.
Loose forward Greer Muir has returned after missing last season through injury.
Experienced playermaker Sheree Hume is also back to help offset some of the losses.
"The girls that are still here have played together for a long time now and we do know the structure pretty well.
"And I guess we are kind of going in with no expectations. We’re certainly the underdogs and that is sort of our theme for the year.
"But want to hopefully prove some people wrong."
The Spirit won promotion to the premiership in 2019 but Covid-19 forced a change to the structure last season.
The Spirit played in a southern conference and won two of their fives games.
"We got a wee taster last year playing some of the tough teams but this year it is going to be week-in, week-out.
"Wellington will certainly be big and a lot bigger than us. Hopefully, we’ll be fitter and faster. That is our strategy — to beat them with our fitness and structure."
Otago would prefer a dry track but the weather is expected to be wet.
"It would be a while since we’ve beaten them I think."
