The landscape of the competition changes every year and Otago Spirit head coach Craig Sneddon knows this year will be no different.
"You just have to presume everyone’s going to be a lot better every year, to be honest," Sneddon said.
"You’ve just got to be ready every week to go. Obviously you want to win it and you want to prepare like you can.
"We respect everyone and we just get on with our job.
"We’ll be watching with interest around the traps because I’m sure there’ll be some teams that’ve moved a long way this year."
Sneddon is back for his second season at the helm, having led the Spirit to the semifinals last season, when they were beaten by a Northland side that went on to win the championship.
"For me, it was a learning campaign, my first crack at that level.
"It’s just tweaking a few things. Just around making sure we’re getting that team environment humming is probably a big one, trying to keep everyone really excited."
He will be able to draw on plenty of experience, as 27 players are returning this season.
They include experienced loose forward Greer Muir and halfback Lininia Kaufana, who last played for the Spirit in 2016.
Cheyenne Cunningham, Tegan Hollows, Eilis Doyle, Maia Joseph, Leah Miles and Georgia Cormick also have Aupiki experience with Matatu.
"We’ve just got a lot of good talent across the board," Sneddon said.
"The depth in the squad’s pretty impressive, I think.
"Talking to a few of the senior players, they can see that there’s certainly more depth than maybe there has been in yesteryear.
"It’s tough to pick teams each week and it really just comes down to form, I suppose."
Asked if he expected to get much game time out of Joseph, who made her Black Ferns debut earlier this year, Sneddon said "we hope not".
If not, that means Joseph will be named for the Black Ferns’ end-of-year tour.
"It’s one of those things, isn’t it?" Sneddon said.
"It’s just cool to have a Black Fern out of the Otago province and it’s awesome for Maia obviously as well."
The Spirit had two good preseason games with a 102-5 win over the Southland Hinds and a 42-34 loss to Canterbury, who play in the premiership, a tier above the Spirit.
The Spirit open their season with an away game against the North Harbour Hibiscus on Sunday.
They would not be taking the Hibiscus lightly, but Sneddon said the Spirit backed themselves to get the job done.
"First rounds are always hard, aren’t they? You don’t really know what you’re walking into.
"We’ll certainly be going in with our best foot forward. We’ll be looking to play fast and move the ball."
