It's strange Temepara George was named player of the series and Katrina Grant player of the match after Ruth Aitken's Silver Ferns lost the three-Test Constellation Cup on Sunday, handing Australia deserved favouritism for a Commonwealth Games gold medal.
Following her side's 46-40 defeat in Auckland, Aitken admitted she needed to find the root of the Ferns' crunch time crumbles before the defence of their 2006 crown begins in early October. It will not be an easy task and there appeared to be no quick-fix answers.
"It's very perplexing for us too," Aitken said of the loss, three days after her side pummelled the Diamonds by 19 goals – their second-worst losing margin.
"Australia did to us what we did to them [in Wellington]."
In the first Test, New Zealand led by two in the dying stages but blew it through a lack of composure. The same was true in Auckland; locked up at three-quarter time (31-all) – it was anyone's game, but the Ferns lost the final 15 minutes by six goals as errors multiplied.
"Australia certainly upped the intensity and before you know it you turnaround and the score's blown out," the coach said of yet another four-quarter quandary.
Aitken smiled through probes at her side's character but there was no denying more than a hint of anxiety. She said time was on their side, they were a work in progress and 'this was a one-off' performance.
Adjusting to umpires' interpretations, absorbing intensity and using space to create through-court flow were all improvements that had to be made.
The Ferns would go away hurting but when they got things right they had the potential to beat any team in the world.
But Aitken has concerns, starting at the shooting end. She said veteran Irene van Dyk, who missed three attempts in the opening period, 'certainly has to keep developing her game' after the star-shooter was benched at halftime for the second Test in a row. Queries also remain about the talented but inconsistent Maria Tutaia, while Daneka Wipiiti is on the improve.
Casey Williams summed things up when the captain said she no longer got frustrated when her hard-earned intercepts went unconverted, because it happened so often.
While New Zealand's self-belief under pressure is flaky, Australia's is not. And there's no doubting the world's No.1 ranked side's determined drive to win back gold after it was snatched from their Melbourne backyard four years ago.
"It's nice to win the Constellation Cup but within two or three days it means nothing, it's past history. I'm never one to thinking we've got this," a 'buggered' Diamonds coach Norma Plummer said before stating her long-held desire.
"If you get your titles, they stay with you for four years so that's my focus."
But the colourful coach knows when the two side's next clash in Delhi, anything could happen.
"Every time we play New Zealand it can go either way. Contests have been so closely fought over decades, not just with this group."