Her captain Casey Williams had just played an inspirational role in leading the Silver Ferns to a 45-42 win over Australia in yesterday's second netball test in Auckland, but Aitken was reluctant to heap praise on the defender.
Williams missed the first test three days earlier in Palmerston North, where an ordinary second half effort let the Australians back into the match for a 52-47 win.
With an eye on next month's world championship in Singapore, Silver Ferns medical staff had opted for a conservative approach to Williams' ill-timed calf twinge in the lead-up to the two-test series.
Going into Sunday's match, the talk was Williams would play, but her court time would be carefully managed: a quarter, maybe two, depending on how the match evolved.
But once on court, it would have taken a crowbar to get her off. Williams didn't miss a trick, her full 60-minute brick-wall defensive effort on first Cath Cox then Natalie Medhurst playing a huge part in the win.
In particular, as the final quarter drew to a close, Williams snaffled a brilliantly timed intercept, setting up a smooth transition to attack for her shooters to convert.
"It wasn't bad," Aitken deadpanned afterwards at the post-match press conference.
Williams herself seemed to barely remember the vital moment. What stuck in her mind was an incident just seconds earlier.
"The one before that she got the run in there, and I thought to myself 'that's not going to happen again'. I had to get my fast shoes on and catch up," Williams said.
As any good captain does, she deflected praise for her effort into acknowledging the full-team effort that sets up the final spectacular turnover.
"Really it's just the pressure from all the other defenders," Williams said. "I definitely don't get the ball by myself, there's a lot of hard work that goes on."
Aitken, happy to have both secured the win and given her bench more court time, said Williams' return had made a big difference in the Silver Ferns' transition game.
"While she's obviously fabulous on defence, her attack through court is something that is so calm and so available.
"She does tend to be the last outlet -- if all else fails, it's kind of turn and biff it to Casey."
There were other heroes for New Zealand on Sunday: goal attack Maria Tutaia stepped up again, especially in the second half after shooter Irene van Dyk was benched in order to give Paula Griffin court time.
Griffin struggled in her return to international netball after a year's sabbatical, but Tutaia's work rate and accuracy was outstanding as the Silver Ferns maintained their four-goal halftime lead going into the final quarter.
And player of the match Temepara George showed speed to burn as she marshalled her attack, drove to the circle and headed a smothering midcourt defence.
"Temepara really dominated in that line, despite her height difference," Aitken said. "Once she actually put the foot down, she could really get herself into open space."
New Zealand's work off the ball still needed developing, Aitken added, especially when it was battling Australia's tight one-on-one defence.
"Often you've got to extricate yourself to be available, and so there does need to be a change in that timing.
"We'd actually like three options to the ball whenever anyone has it, that's the aim."
With Singapore less than four weeks away, Aitken said the most encouraging aspect of Sunday's win was the potential for further development.
"I believe that when you're crafty enough, you can make anything happen," she said.
"We have to keep growing and developing -- the girls know this performance tonight will not be good enough once we get to Singapore.
"But there's still more in the tank."
