What gives him confidence, however, is that squeezing four players into three spots is nothing new for the Magpies coach whose club opens its season against two-time champion Sunshine Coast Lightning in Melbourne.
A knee injury to Madi Browne might temporarily save Wright from deciding who of Browne, her younger sister Kelsey, Kim Ravaillion or Ash Brazill to leave out of the starting seven.
All are either current or former Australia Diamonds who not only justify a starting spot, but could potentially turn a result with a laser-accurate feed or intercept.
It was a situation Wright learned from when, as coach of the NSW Swifts in 2016, he needed to balance the skillsets of Kim Green, Paige Hadley, Laura Langman and Abbey McCulloch.
At times, 2015 World Cup winner Hadley was used as an impact player.
Wright also had to manage the involvement of goalers Susan Pettitt and Steph Wood at goal attack.
“One of the biggest learnings from that was reflecting on the process of how to get the players on board. Maybe I didn’t do that well enough,” Wright said.
“You’ve got to sell the vision to the players. If they said they weren’t dubious about sitting on the bench then I’d wonder if they were being honest with me.
“But I’ve been working hard on getting the players on board and I feel like I’ve got them on song.”
The Magpies already have lost Diamonds squad defender Matilda Garrett to a foot injury that could leave her sidelined for at least another month.
That, and Browne’s knee problem, were hiccups late in a pre-season that peaked when they won the Suncorp #TeamGirls Cup in Brisbane.
Despite the curve ball on the eve of the third Suncorp Super Netball season, Collingwood is still the team many predict is due to win a title.
English champion Geva Mentor is a proven winner and Natalie Medhurst promises to be the answer to the Magpies’ two-year struggle to lock in a matchwinner at goal attack.
Kelsey Browne’s recovery from an injury scare gives the Magpies a spark at wing attack and she could find herself opposed to either Silver Ferns great Laura Langman or Maddy McAuliffe.
See the Magpies take on the Lightning this Saturday 27 April at Melbourne Arena at 5:30pm.
