Her side's won 11 straight Orange Netball Association Toyota Cup titles so Orange City Craig Harvey Mechanical coach Cindy Gilchrist is probably pretty used to fielding similar questions year-to-year come grand final week.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Leading into Saturday's West Orange Motors Senior Competitions' top flight decider against Life Studio the celebrated mentor offered something a little different, something every aspiring coach, player and team alike should take heed of.
In a nutshell, she offered the secret to the Lions' stunning success.
We're incredibly lucky to be in this position again because you can't expect it, you have to earn it.
- Orange City coach Cindy Gilchrist
"It's the friendship, that's what keeps it going," she smiled, speaking from the Lions' final training session on Thursday night.
"It's doing it for each other, it's doing it together and enjoying it with friends. We obviously want to win, we wouldn't come into the competition not to, but at the end of the day it's just a game of netball and there's more important things you can get from it than a trophy.
"We're incredibly lucky to be in this position again because you can't expect it, you have to earn it and we've built to it again. We're feeling good, and very respectful of course because Life are a very good and we'll need to bring our A game on Saturday.
"No matter what it'll be a tough game, a great game I'm sure."
For Gilchrist the fact her side has won 11 premierships in a row doesn't mean much outside the experience boost they get from a couple of players who have featured in plenty of those wins.
"We've got a few experienced heads that have done it before and maybe that helps a little bit but every year's been a different side and we've got some young players who haven't done this before," Gilchrist explained.
"So no, I don't think it matters much. It's certainly fantastic and really exciting to have [won 11 in a row] but that really is just a number and come finals everyone goes back to scratch, it's even-stevens again and I think it is this weekend too."
Like Life Studio the Lions will head into the clash with just eight players named, sadly Sam Spicer won't play after suffering a season-ending injury. Although, Katelin Eslick was still racing the clock to be fit as well as of Thursday evening.
"Katie Eslick only started running on Wednesday after a knee injury so we'll have to see how she goes. We're desperate to get on her the court though, she deserves to be on the court and we'll obviously miss Sam dreadfully, we might have an uphill battle on our hands," Gilchrist said.
Eslick was expected to undergo a fitness test on Thursday night but would also be given until the 11th hour anyway.
Saturday's mouth-watering division one decider begins at 3.15pm on Sir Neville Howse Stadium's show court.
- LIFE STUDIO: Aurella White, Kate Mastronardi, Em Brisbane, Soph Brisbane, Em Williams, Chloe Riley, Alex Emerson, Mardi Aplin, Alice Maier
- ORANGE CITY CRAIG HARVEY MECHANICAL: Kristin Zinga, Maddie Cole, Katelin Eslick, Katie Matthews, Caitlyn Harvey, Brooke Burcher, Sarah Thorley, Tegan Dray, Sam Spicer
WANT MORE ORANGE NEWS AND SPORT?
- Receive our free newsletters delivered to your inbox, as well as breaking news alerts. Sign up below ...