Otago sits in sixth place in the competition, with a three-win, two-loss record and has to play the team currently sitting third, Bay of Plenty, in Mt Manganui on Friday night.
Martin said he would have liked to have one more win at this stage of the competition, pointing to his side's 10-19 loss to Hawkes Bay at Carisbrook last Friday night, as the one that got away.
The side has yet to secure a bonus point through scoring four tries, and it needs to make more of the opportunities it creates.
Martin acknowledged as much when contacted yesterday, and said Otago might have to simplify its attacking patterns near the tryline.
"Maybe we have to be a little bit more conservative in our option-taking - be a bit more circumspect and hold on to the ball for one or two more phases," Martin said.
He said it was not simply the inexperienced players who were failing to take the opportunities.
Experienced players were also not taking chances.
Teams were becoming very skilful at slowing the ball down, and spreading up to 13 players right across the field in defence.
But Otago had to be more ruthless at the breakdown to clear the ball.
In Friday night's game in particular, Otago struggled to get the ball free from the breakdown, giving Hawkes Bay plenty of time to get its defence organised.
Apart from Wellington, which has scored the maximum points from its five games, the competition was very topsy-turvy, Martin said, and any team could beat another on any given day.
Centre Brett Mather is the biggest doubt for this week's match, as he injured his ring finger against Hawkes Bay, and was forced off the field at half-time.
It was not broken but was badly bruised and was affecting his ability to pass the ball.
Lock Tom Donnelly suffered a slight strain to a hamstring at training yesterday, and his availability will be assessed in the next couple of days.
No 8 Steven Setephano, who made a couple of storming runs, was replaced early in the second half last Friday night, as his problem calf started tightening.
But there were no ill-effects and he trained yesterday.
