English netball coach Jess Thirlby hasn't made the trip to New Zealand with her understrength team, but she's still very much steering the ship from afar.
The former international attack tested positive for COVID-19 as the 'Roses' were about to leave for downunder, and had to hand the reins over to senior selector and technical coach Kat Ratnapala for the three-test series against the Silver Ferns, beginning October 28.
But that doesn't mean she's on vacation.
"It's a really tough time and COVID has hit us in England dramatically," Ratnapala tells Newshub from their Christchurch isolation facility.
"Luckily, Jess is well and her family is doing well, so that's fantastic. It's obviously a change and it's not ideal for us to be without Jess.
"She's still very much on the end of the phone, she's still in charge of everything and we're still keeping regular communications with her.
"It's all very much leading from her and she's doing everything she can, as well as staying up until all hours of the morning back there.
"From our perspective, it's very much business as normal. We're trying to continue with everything as much as we can through these times and just make sure we're best preparing the squad to hit New Zealand in the next week or so."
With several of their established stars still contesting the Australian Super Netball playoffs, the England team were already missing key personnel against the reigning world champions.
Their domestic season ended abruptly in March, so the players they have are vastly underdone, compared to their rivals, who completed the ANZ Premiership in August.
Ratnapala is under no illusions about the enormity of the task ahead, but is thankful for any kind of international netball and determined to forge on in true British style.
The players are currently training in two groups during their isolation period and relishing the comparative freedom, after passing their latest coronavirus tests.
"We haven't actually been on court for quite a long time now, due to restrictions and isolation periods," says Ratnapala. "For us, it's still very much about getting back on court.
"We're still two pods at the moment, so our squad is split. We're just working alongside that, and hoping day-six and day-12 COVID results come back, and we'll be good to go.
"It's very different times for everyone and, for us, it's about finding our feet and taking each day as it comes."
The NZ team will also have the benefit of build-up games next week, against NZ 'A', NZ Men and NZ U21.
The Silver Ferns beat England in the semi-finals, en route to last year's World Cup triumph, and last faced them at Birmingham in January, prevailing 64-48.
Join us next week for live updates of the Silver Ferns 2020 campaign
