The idea of co-coaches sounded just a little bit kooky.
So, when the Steel announced Janine Southby and Natalie Avellino would be sharing the role this season, it become something of a source of amusement.
How can you possibly run a team by committee?
What was the plan on game day?
Take a quick poll before making a substitution? Please.
And how were Southby and Avellino going to resolve a difference of opinion in the heat of battle?
There is no time for a meeting of the minds. Someone - the key point here is the "one" in someone - has to take charge.
With just two wins from seven matches, some might argue the Steel marriage is not working.
But you cannot always judge a coaching team on results alone.
The ability to squeeze the best out of players is a much more accurate gauge.
On that score, the pair achieve an unqualified pass mark.
The Steel has gone through some significant rebuilding with just three players returning from last season.
Its playing roster is considerably weaker than most of its rivals.
The Steel lacks depth compared with the benchmark sides and relies heavily on the experienced shooting duo of Jodi Brown and Donna Wilkins.
Demelza McCloud has carried the defensive effort and Phillipa Finch is the lone wise old head in a green midcourt.
It is something to work with but Southby and Avellino certainly do not have a star-studded team.
All things considered, the Steel has mostly punched above its weight.
It surprised the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic in the opening round but was flat in the loss to the resurgent Central Pulse the following week.
The Steel bounced back to beat the Canterbury Tactix in Christchurch but has lost the last four consecutive games.
The latest was a heartbreaking one-goal loss to the defending champions, the Queensland Firebirds, in Invercargill.
Wilkins missed a shot in the dying moments which would have forced the game into extra time.
It was a tenacious effort given the five-goal headstart the Steel conceded in the opening quarter.
Even the 10-goal loss to the Adelaide Thunderbirds in Adelaide was not without merit.
Steel teams, in the past, have tended to capitulate in Australia.
Its previous trip to Adelaide in 2010 resulted in a 17-goal drubbing.
That same year the Steel lost to the New South Wales Swifts by 17.
Arguably, that team had more talent but lacked the fight the 2012 side has shown.
There has also been a willingness to dabble and to experiment a bit more than the previous regime.
The decision to promote goal keep Storm Purvis to the starting side took courage, and Louise Thayer's move to wing defence has potential.
This season, expectations were for a top-six finish rather than a place in the playoffs.
That is still achievable but the first goal has to be to end the four-game losing-streak with a win against the Pulse in Dunedin on Monday.
