Silver Ferns coach Noeline Taurua is taking plenty of positives away from Sunday's closely fought loss to Australia, particularly the encouraging efforts of teenager shooter Aliyah Dunn.
The Central Pulse 18-year-old's fourth-quarter injection was one of the catalysts behind New Zealand's late fightback in the 60-55 loss in the final contest of the 2018 Quad Series.
Taurua replaced starter Te Paea Selby-Rickett with Dunn in a bid to counter the physical approach of the Diamonds defenders.
Dunn provided exactly that, putting on a flawless display of shooting to further boost her rising stock.
"What I was waiting for with Te Paea was her to work herself out of some of that physicality under the post," said Taurua. "I thought, at moments, she was really nice, but also got caught up in what was happening around her.
"I needed a presence at the back, someone who was an easy target close to the post that could also rebound… to have [Dunn] in the back allowed us a bit more stability in the circle.
"I was not surprised, but just really happy with what [Dunn] did. She's 18, but man, she's built.
“That physicality didn't even worry her underneath the post and I think she got 10 out of 10.
“She's just got that way about her. It's a good start for her against quality opposition in Courtney Bruce, it's very promising."
That was in line with Taurua's assessment of her team's overall efforts against the world champions.
Despite limited preparation time with the squad, Taurua says there are clear signs of progression from her new team, as they start to come to terms with the new system she's implemented.
"I'm actually quite happy with it. I think we have improved since our last game.
“There were some beautiful passages of play… it was a great comeback, great fight.
"Coming away with that score-line lets us know we are working in the right direction."
The Ferns now have a week off, before they reassemble to begin their Constellation Cup preparations, with the opening test set for Brisbane on October 7.
Taurua says she's yet to settle on her starting seven and will continue to tweak her line-up throughout the trans-Tasman series, her eyes set on solidifying her selections for next year's World Cup in England.
"I don't know if I'd call it experimenting, I'd like to think I'm going to be quite strategic in what I'm going to do.
"There's areas where we were exposed and probably never had enough firepower to look at changing up in certain areas.
"We'll look at some of the others that are at home, at the level underneath.
"I'm going to look at all areas and see how we can be better."
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