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As the Silver Ferns' explosive defender Casey Williams walked off the court exhausted from another loss to Australia, rival coach Norma Plummer offered her a job.
Plummer has always been an undisguised fan of the goal keep from Matamata - often describing her as a "beautiful athlete" with superb anticipation.
So maybe it was no surprise when the Australian coach, only slightly tongue in cheek, told Williams she was welcome to switch allegiances any time.
Her Silver Fern opposite, Ruth Aitken, laughed long and loud when she learned of Plummer's audacious suggestion.
"I said to Casey, 'Don't listen to her!' But I'm not too worried. I don't think this Matamata girl will be leaving home in a hurry," Aitken said.
Williams was equally unmoved.
"She said if I needed to have a chat with her about anything I could," said Williams. End of story.
The 21-year-old trainee phys ed teacher made it obvious on this English tour that she has a bold future on this side of the Tasman.
She made an impact off the bench in the first test against England, then was the defining defender against Australia, taking almost as many intercepts as the Australians combined.
"I think Casey provided some fantastic turnover ball and her reading of the game, for someone so young, is quite brilliant," said Aitken after the Birmingham test.
Williams, a self-effacing farmer's daughter, admitted for once that she was pleased with her game up against the always-physical Australians.
"I know I spent a lot of time on the ground, but that was just my competitiveness and my commitment - I knew I needed to throw myself into it," she said.
Since she made her Silver Ferns debut against Barbados in late 2005, Williams' career has evolved in fits and starts, her progress hindered by leg injuries. She played her first test against Australia, the final of the 2006 Commonwealth Games, with a fractured ankle, and missed last year's series against the Australians with a knee injury.
The old knee problem flared up again last month after a heavy fall in the National Bank Cup, but Williams was fit enough to make the UK tour. A full test against Australia was the ultimate test of the troublesome joint.
"I actually felt surprisingly good after that game. I had the usual stiffness and soreness, but I came off the court and said to our physio, 'Yay, I lasted a whole game against Australia!' It can't get much better than that," she said.
The loss overshadowed her elation at lasting a full 60 minutes.
"As a team we worked together better than we did in the game against England. But we still lost - the end results wasn't what we wanted," Williams said.
"I really need to work on my intensity for the whole game - there were patches of the game where I slacked off. You can't afford to do that against a team like Australia."
Williams is already being likened to former Silver Ferns defence great Bernice Mene, who is also impressed with the young defender she has worked with in talent identification programmes.
"I really rate her. You can tell that she is a thinking player - you can see her vision coming through the court," Mene says.
"I remember Tanya Cox pointing her out to me as a defender to watch, as a player who reads the game well, when she first came on to the scene about three years ago - us old defenders have been talking about her!"
While the only concern about Williams is protecting those limbs in her fervent physical playing style, Mene isn't alarmed. "It's part and parcel of being a defender these days."
