When New Zealand Sevens coach Gordon Tietjens named his squad for the opening two rounds of the 2009/10 IRB World Sevens Series in Dubai and George, he did so with hope in his heart, and his fingers crossed.
Tietjens had to watch on last year as his side struggled with injury and form, and this year is putting a huge amount of faith in four players.
"I've named four very experienced players in my captain DJ Forbes, vice-captain Zar Lawrence, Tomasi Cama and Lote Raikabula. They are my core this season and we'll build around them," he said.
"That's where we've put all of our riches I suppose, and I guess there is a lot of pressure applied to those four players. We are relying on them staying fit this season.
"In saying that, I've got a youngster called Sherwin Stowers who's outstanding and very quick. Save Tokula's come on leaps and bounds and played last year and a couple more guys like Paul Grant and Ben Souness have been in the squad before and will be so much better this year for their previous experience in Sevens."
Experience the key to success
"It's all about getting more experienced. Last year there's no doubt that we were disrupted by injury, on the World Series and at the World Cup, but this year hopefully our new approach of naming those four contracted players can mean that they can get through the season without injury and allow us to build around them.
"We still had three finals last year and in two of those we lost right at the death in Wellington and London, one of those in extra time. The teams are so evenly matched these days and you've got to take your opportunities when they present themselves, and we didn't always do that.
"The pressure's on now to really perform and if our senior players can lead from the front, I'm sure the younger guys will follow suit."
Tietjens accepts that his job is getting more and more challenging each year, and that certain other countries are now better equipped for the rigours of the season.
"They've just named 45 Under 20 players in New Zealand that are not available for Sevens. The pathway for them will be the Under 20s until their World Championship in Argentina, so they can't be considered for any Sevens tournaments," he said.
Deprived of the country's finest youth, his side has also not been able to travel to any warm-up tournaments, which he believes leaves them 'underdone' in comparison with other leading teams.
"South Africa, Fiji, Samoa and a few other countries have been playing in Sevens tournaments all over the world in the run-up to this World Series, and they're certainly going to have a bit of a jump on us in terms of conditioning, and the luxury of having played together and tried out combinations."
Players from both South Africa and Fiji were in action at the weekend in Sri Lanka, their final warm-up events, and Paul Treu's Boks have also played in Namibia and Singapore.
Tietjens: Tougher than ever
With Sevens now an Olympic Sport and increasingly competitive, Tietjens is under no illusions as to the scale of the task ahead.
"It's a massive challenge because there is a lot of added interest and coverage now that Sevens has become an Olympic sport," he said.
"I don't think a lot of people in New Zealand realise the difficulties we face in competing on the World Series now.
"We've been at the top, there or thereabouts, winning eight of the 10 World Series titles so far and the expectations are always very high.
"People assume that Gordon Tietjens will pull some new players out of nowhere and they'll go and do the job, but I don't think there are lot of people out there who realise how close this game of Sevens is now, and how dominant teams like South Africa and Fiji can be at certain times of the season and in certain games.
"You've got to be at your very best to beat these teams and I think that we can do well if we start well and my players really get their act together here."
