Sitting pretty a few days ago, Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic has subsequently slipped into a pressure-cooker situation heading into the final round of the ANZ Championship netball competition.
A couple of surprise results in the latest round have conspired to heap a lot more pressure on the Magic's bid to claim the minor premiership ahead of the finals series.
Already assured of a top-two finish, the Magic has to win and win well against the Thunderbirds in Adelaide on Sunday to gain a home semifinal ahead of the Melbourne Vixens.
The Vixens received a massive boost to their percentages with a 28-goal demolition of the Canterbury Tactix on Monday. Equal on points with the Magic, it has given the Melbourne franchise an edge going into this weekend's final round of the regular season when it will meet the bottom-placed Central Pulse.
Magic still enjoy a slightly higher goal differential but their final outing of the regular season is by far the more challenging of the two front-runners.
"It has always been in my thinking that it was going to come down to the last two games being hugely important for us,'' said Magic coach Noeline Taurua.
"So, this is not anything new that I haven't figured out already.
"The first thing for us is treating it like any other game and going for the two points. We just want to concentrate on our own game plan, try and get the two points and anything that happens after that is a bonus.''
With the Vixens playing before them this weekend, Magic will know exactly what it needs in terms of goal ratio. But Taurua is keen for her team to just concentrate on the win, anything else would be a distraction and more than likely have an adverse effect.
Ironically, Magic has been quietly preparing behind enemy lines all week after carrying on to Adelaide following its win in Perth last weekend. Caught out by the weather, the Thunderbirds were unable to leave Dunedin on time and were still making their way home on Wednesday after their upset loss to the Steel.
"We will have to lift to another level this weekend…..the Steel haven't done us any favours," said Taurua.
"After a loss you always want to come back and redeem yourselves, especially at home.
"The Thunderbirds are very physical. Their ability to force turnovers out of their opponents through constant pressure is very high so they will be out to give us a torrid workover.''
Taurua is not surprised the order of the top four will not be finalised until after the 14th and final round.
"The hardest thing about this competition is being able to stay on top of your game for four months,'' she said.
You are going to have natural ebbs and flows so you have to be strategic about how you ride those changing circumstances. I don't think it's realistic to be able to peak for four months.''
The coach gained a lot of positives after Magic finally got the breakthrough win for New Zealand teams in Australia, against the West Coast Fever last weekend.
"That game was probably one of the most mentally demanding we have played this season,'' she said.
"In terms of the demanding flight time, having our body clocks out of sync and the timing not quite right on court, it was a huge game for us and we have taken a lot of confidence out of it.''