Veteran Diamonds defender Julie Corletto is relieved to finally be getting out of her moon boot one week out from the Netball World Cup.
Corletto rested a troublesome foot for the good part of a month as a precaution following a tough slog during the NSW Swifts' run to the trans-Tasman grand final.
The two-time world championhip defender sat out all court work during the Australian team's first training camp and kept fit in the pool.
But 29-year-old Corletto, who will retire after contesting her third world titles starting on August 8, was looking forward to getting back onto the court as the squad assembled in Newcastle on Friday to begin a final five-day training camp.
"I've been hanging to take (the moon boot) off," Corletto told AAP.
"It's just being smart and looking after it now so that I'm right for the World Cup.
"It was kind of silly to push it and then it be sore and aggravated through the World Cup."
The Diamonds are in taper mode as they near the end of coach Lisa Alexander's tournament "adaption cycle".
While arch-rivals New Zealand have been busy playing Tests against Fiji and South Africa, Australia are one of the few World Cup teams to opt against pre-tournament warm-up matches.
It was a move aimed at allowing maximum recovery from the demanding ANZ Championship.
Eight of the 12-strong Diamonds team played in the Queensland Thunderbirds' one-point grand final win over the Swifts in June, with Diamonds captain Laura Geitz and vice-captain Kim Green also managing knee and calf niggles since.
"I think they've been pretty happy with the fact that we've had this period of time just to train," Alexander said.
"We initially were going to be playing some Test matches, but I think in hindsight we've decided it was going to be better for us to just work through our training, allow bodies to get a little tiny recovery after the ANZ season because it is very rigorous."
Green said the whole team was in good shape as they prepare to seek a world title in front of a home crowd.
"It's really nice to be having it at home," said Green.
"We're often having to travel quite a bit. Generally we would have been on the road two weeks ago.
"If you can imagine coming off an ANZ Championship and then have a week off before heading overseas, just to have it in Sydney has been really nice for us."
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