KEY POINTS:
Plenty of coaches have ample reasons why they deserve to hold aloft the National Bank Cup before it's locked behind glass for good.
Yvonne Willering, the former Silver Ferns coach, is leading the Force for a fifth straight year but has yet to know victory.
Robyn Broughton has
coached the Sting every season of the decade-long franchise competition, winning it six times, and wants to add the trophy to the Stadium Southland cabinet, alongside the old award of netball supremacy, the Coca-Cola Cup.
But maybe Margaret Foster's claim to the silverware can beat them all. If the Flames win this year's cup, the last time the competition is held, it will be a triumph for her in more ways than one.
Foster was diagnosed with breast cancer four months ago, and underwent a mastectomy and breast reconstruction surgery at the end of January. Through it all, she has continued to prepare the Canterbury franchise for the competition which starts tonight.
"Having netball in my life has given me something to look forward to through this," the former Silver Fern and mother of two says.
"But it's also made me realise that the game is not the be-all and end-all. I used to give up everything for it, but now I don't sweat the small stuff."
The illness has forced Foster to slow down, handing more responsibility to her assistant coach Helen Mahon-Stroud, but has made her more approachable for her Flames players.
"I think I've become more empathetic. One of my players sat down and chatted with me the other day - we'd never chatted in four years. It's quite a nice breakthrough," she says.
"And I've really impressed on them that family is the most important thing, and they have to keep netball in perspective. In that respect, I think they've benefited from it too."
The new attitude hasn't taken Foster's eyes off the prize. "Wanting to win this competition goes with the territory. Don't forget there are eight teams out there who want it."
She considered stepping out of coaching after this competition to concentrate on her corporate team building venture with Tania Dalton but the draw of leading a Christchurch-based team in next year's inaugural transtasman league has re-kindled her interest.
Foster has coached the Flames for the seven of the 10 seasons of the NBC; making the final three times, but never taking the trophy. That's another reason why, sentimentally, she merits winning this time around.
But, Foster concedes, it may not be so much about the coach but who she puts on court. "I still believe it's your talent pool that makes the difference. You can be the worst coach in the world, and still win with an awesome player base," she says. "You've got to do the best with what you've got to get them mentally and physically the best you can."
Not that she's bemoaning the standard of the 12 players she has this season, led by former New Zealand captain Julie Seymour and surrounded by five other players currently in national squads.
"We've had a great build-up together, but we go into our first game as underdogs," Foster says of the Flames' encounter with Auckland franchise the Diamonds in Christchurch on Saturday.
"We've got no Silver Ferns, and they've got two."
Willering would be thrilled to boast a great build-up, as the Force goes into their opening clash with the Sting in Invercargill tonight a little behind the eight-ball.
"Just getting them all together will be wonderful," Willering says after a pre-season peppered with injuries.
The Force's defence took the hardest hits. New recruit Vilimaina Davu, was involved in a car accident and was kept in Fiji until this week; Sheryl Scanlan, making her return after having her first child, injured her hand in a team exercise, and Lorna Suafoa suffered knee damage while playing for Samoa and won't play tonight.
"It's been hard - we haven't had the full line-up together yet," Willering says.
"But in a sense, it's been good to get the rest of the team members out on court in the pre-season games."
Willering wants her team - some who have stayed with the Force for years - to finish on the highest note, before the start of next year's transtasman league.
"This is our final opportunity to be together and do something positive. Some of the players are realistic and know they might not get to play in the new transtasman competition.
"But this could also be a chance for them to show their worth for next year's team.
"We really want our name to be the last one engraved on that trophy. It would be a nice way to finish as a team."
* Ruth Aitken will name a Silver Ferns team after the second round of the National Bank Cup, to play England and Australia in England in May.
