Reinga Te Huia has a good feeling about this season.
The Southern Steel assistant coach is entering her third season with the team, and first under new head coach Noeline Taurua.
She is steering the ship for a couple of weeks while Taurua is overseas on holiday, and was in Dunedin yesterday for the team's first of two training sessions at the Edgar Centre this week.
Only Jamaican goal shoot Jhaniele Fowler-Reid, who arrives in Invercargill next week, was missing from yesterday's session.
"It's been quite nice with a gradual lead-in,'' Te Huia said.
"We only had five girls the first week because of Silver Ferns camp, last week we had 10 and this week we have got 11.
"By the time Noeline gets back we will have had a couple of full team trainings, which is quite good. So we are just doing all the ground work.''
Taurua, who replaced new Silver Ferns coach Janine Southby as head coach of the Steel in November, is due in Dunedin for the national league trials on February 20-21.
After two years working under Southby, Te Huia is looking forward to working for the only coach to win an ANZ Championship with a New Zealand team (Magic in 2012).
"I've got lots of contact at the moment [with Noeline] via email,'' Te Huia said.
"It will be different; it's someone new. You always want to take on board what you can from someone else. I think it's a good thing.
"[Janine] had her own system and way of doing things. She coached some of these girls for four years, so I think for them it's quite nice to have a fresh perspective on things.''
Te Huia's name was one of a few that was thrown around as a potential replacement for Southby, when she was named Silver Ferns head coach in November.
"It's something that I did consider,'' she said.
"It's something that if you're going to be doing this job, that's what you want to aim for. But there is still plenty to learn before I get there.''
Filling in for Taurua over the next fortnight will give her an added insight into what it is like to coach a New Zealand franchise.
This year, that involves the extra responsibility of working with a national league team.
Netball South will name its national league team after the trials in Dunedin later this month.
While most of the other franchises have already had trials and named squads, Reinga said Netball South had delayed its trials until the university students were in town.
"We are waiting because the influx of students. We need to give them time to get in, because you just never know who is out there and might show up. That's the beauty of having it here in Dunedin,'' she said.
The Steel has just five weeks to get into shape before its first pre-season matches.
It will play the Mainland Tactix and Canterbury men's team in Ashburton on March 5-6.
The national league team will also travel to Mid Canterbury to play the Mainland team.
The Steel will then travel to Auckland for a three-day pre-season tournament in Auckland on March 18-20.
Its first match of the ANZ Championship is against the Northern Mystics in Auckland on April 1.
