Canberra Capitals coach Paul Goriss said a disrupted pre-season meant his side would need time to gel in the early stages of their fast-approaching WNBL campaign.
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Not one to make excuses, Goriss said niggling injury woes had dogged a pre-season made worse by the fact the squad only assembled two-and-a-half weeks ago.
A 16-point loss to the Sydney Flames in Canberra's final pre-season hit out has given Goriss a clearer indication of where his side is as a unit.
The Capitals have retained just three players from last season's squad — Abbey Wehrung, Alice Coddington, and Carly Wilson — with eight fresh faces joining the new coach.
Goriss said meeting the Flames was "a baptism of fire into the WNBL" for his young group, a number of whom have spent time playing in the SEABL.
"It was just good for us to be able to see where we're at," Goriss said.
"It's given us some focus points on where we need to improve over the next week before we head into the first game against Dandenong."
Goriss said the new-look Capitals outfit showed glimpses of what they were capable of in clashes with the Flames and Perth, but it was a matter of doing the job on a consistent basis.
"They're learning, I'm learning. It's all new to all of us," Goriss said.
"We'll take some time to get to know each other, and to get to know where our strengths and weaknesses are.
"Obviously out of the two games we've got some areas we need to improve upon but it's going to take some time for us just to get used to playing with each other as well and for it to all gel."
With just a week left until the first tip-off of the season Goriss has been reviewing his side's game footage almost religiously to pick out key focus points for the final stages of preparation.
The Capitals hit the court for final training runs on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday to fine-tune their skills ahead of the season-opener against Dandenong.
"I think our focus for the first couple of weeks definitely needs to be on us," Goriss said.
"We're new, new group, new coach means our focus needs to be on worrying about what we need to get done."
Goriss was pleased with the input of import Jazmon Gwathmey, who only touched down in Australia on Wednesday after a WNBA season with the San Antonio Stars ended short of the playoffs.
"She just showed what she could bring to the league and to our team," Goriss said.
"Her athleticism, she's dynamic, she can shoot the ball OK, she gets to the basket. All the things we saw in the scouting that we did of her, we saw glimpses of it."
AT A GLANCE
WNBL pre-season: SYDNEY FLAMES 69 (J Hamson 21, A Taylor 18, A Wilson 11) bt CANBERRA CAPITALS 53 (L Mansfield 15, M Tolo 11, J Gwathmey 10) at Tuggeranong Southern Cross Club on Friday night.
WNBL ROUND ONE
Saturday: Canberra Capitals v Dandenong Rangers at Tuggeranong Southern Cross Club, 3pm.
