Mainland Tactix hope to replicate one of the NBA's most notorious teams in their hunt for a maiden ANZ Premiership title.
Their theme for the season takes inspiration from the 'Bad Boy' Detroit Pistons side of the late '80s and early '90s.
Starting the season with four straight wins, they hope to make it five, when they meet also unbeaten Central Pulse in Sunday's top-of-the-table clash.
Until now, they've been known simply as the Tactix, but this year they have a second name.
"We're bad girls," insisted defender Paris Lokotui.
If that sounds familiar, you're not wrong - the Tactix theme for the year is the Detroit Pistons 'Bad Boys'.
"So every year, we run a theme," chuckled coach Marianne Delaney-Hoshek. "It's usually inhouse, but now you've seen it, so it's not."
The Bad Boys won back-to-back NBA titles in 1989 and 1990, led by a talented, but equally threatening trio of Bill Laimbeer, Isaiah Thomas and Dennis Rodman.
"I'm trying not to be too much of a Rodman, becuase I dont want to get sent off," said defender Karin Burger.
"It's kind of in my realm," said Lokotui. "I like to be a little bit niggly and annoying, so it's cool I get to portray it and bring it out on court as well."
So far this season, it's working for them.
"Defensively, we just want to be a team that people hate playing," said Delaney-Hoshek.
"I think we have that with Jane [Watson] at the back and Karin as well, with their wavy hands and everything like that," said Lokotui.
If the 'Bad Girls' can have similar success to the Bad Boys, 2024 may finally be the Tactix year.
