Diamonds captain Laura Geitz knows team solidarity doesn't come without work.
But she's confident a smart and versatile Australian contingent can knit together enough cohesion over the next four weeks to win the Netball World Cup.
It's still early days for the newly formed 12-strong squad that will defend their world title in front of home crowds in Sydney next month.
The first pre-World Cup training camp this week on the Gold Coast is the first time the players have stepped onto the court as part of the same team, after many have just spent half a year facing off against each other in the ANZ championship.
Two-thirds of the group are comprised of NSW Swifts and Queensland Firebirds, who fought tooth and nail in the Firebirds' dramatic trans-Tasman grand final triumph last month.
"This week predominantly is just about getting everyone on the same page," Geitz said.
"We've gone from competing against each other for the last six months to all of a sudden being in a team with each other.
"We're not playing our best netball, which you wouldn't imagine we'd be doing at this particular time seeing that we've just come together.
"But we do have a month to work together, and as a playing group we have full confidence in Lisa and the coaching staff that they know what they're doing, and we know that they'll have us firing when it counts in August."
Australia will have their work cut out for them, having been drawn in a tough Pool A with New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados and will face northern rivals England among others should they progress.
But Geitz said doing the groundwork for such a challenge had already been made easier thanks to coach Lisa Alexander's selection of an especially adaptable and mentally tough side.
"There's a lot of versatility amongst the 12," said Geitz, adding that Australia can "definitely" take home a third consecutive trophy.
"I think Lisa's gone with a very smart team, that are all players that are playing with great form at the moment.
"The big thing for us is understanding that we've got some really tough opposition to come up against - England, New Zealand and Jamaica are all forces to be reckoned with."
Meanwhile, retiring star defender Julie Corletto is sitting out all court work this week as a precaution due to soreness in her left foot.
The two-time world champion has had her foot in a moon boot at training but Alexander said the enforced rest wasn't a major concern, rather just managing Corletto's load so she would be ready to go in a month's time.
After this week, the Diamonds will re-group in Newcastle from July 31 before the World Cup kicks off on August 7.
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