Canberra Capitals recruit Hanna Zavecz insists the team will play "hard and explosive" basketball at a pre-season tournament in Bendigo despite facing the challenge of five games in eight days.
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The Capitals will fine-tune their WNBL preparations with three games in Bendigo, starting with a clash against the Townsville Fire on Friday.
It is a chance for coach Carrie Graf to test her combinations before the team begins its championship campaign with a double-header trip against the Melbourne Boomers and the Sydney Flames next week.
Graf will manage game time for her key players to ensure they do not suffer from burnout before the regular season starts.
But 29-year-old Zavecz admitted the hunger for success prevented the coaches from lightening the workload.
"It's about managing players for the coaching staff ... it's not holding back and we want to get into the habit of hard and explosive basketball," Zavecz said.
"But you also have to pull back on minutes a bit as well to manage bodies. I've got to be a bit smarter with my body these days. The priority is next weekend and two games in two days to start the WNBL season."
The Capitals will play the Fire and the Adelaide Lighting before advancing to the final match in the three-day tournament.
They will begin their season against the Boomers in Melbourne on October 17 and then face a nightmare second clash against the Flames in Canberra the next night.
Graf will tinker with her combinations and her rotations in the pre-season tournament before settling on her line-up for the opening round.
Former Australian Opals guard Zavecz will add firepower to the Capitals front line as they cover for the loss of Lauren Jackson in the opening few rounds.
"You want to be a starter, but it depends on team chemistry and what roles we need on the floor," Zavecz said.
"I just want to do my bit and play a part. If that means a starter, I'd love that, but I'll take whatever is given to me."
Graf said: "It isn't about trying to win this pre-season tournament; it's about making sure we're ready to win games for round one.
"It's a balance. We'll play the way we want to win games. But we don't need key players getting on there for 35 minutes because we've essentially got five games in eight days."
The WNBL season received another major boost on Thursday by recruiting WNBA all-star and Beijing Olympic gold medallist Cappie Pondexter.
The 31-year-old American guard was named in the top-15 players in WNBA history and is renowned as one of the most prolific scorers in women's basketball with a WNBA career average of 18.5 points a game.
WNBL PRE-SEASON TOURNAMENT
Friday: Canberra Capitals v Townsville Fire, 5pm. Saturday: Canberra Capitals v Adelaide Lightning, 5pm. Sunday: TBD
WNBL ROUND 1
October 17: Melbourne Boomers v Canberra Capitals at State Basketball Centre, 7.30pm.
October 18: Canberra Capitals v Sydney Flames at AIS Arena, 7pm.
