The visit of Northern League division one champions Melville United to Links Ave a couple of weeks ago to take on the Bay of Plenty's highest ranked football club Tauranga City was a bit of an eye-opener.
As painful as it may be to admit, the Hamilton club showed what a slick operation looks like. Their organisation on and off the pitch was in a different league.
The two clubs have been playing at the same level this season, but that will change next year as Melville has won promotion to the Northern League's Premier division while Tauranga City has just survived relegation to division two.
That will mean two Waikato clubs in the nation's second highest league behind the national ISPS Handa Premiership, as Melville joins Hamilton Wanderers in that rarefied air.
By contrast, the Bay has Tauranga City in division one, and Ngongotaha in division two. Then it's another drop down to the likes of Papamoa, Tauranga Blue Rovers, Otumoetai and Tauranga Boys' College in the WaiBOP Federation's Loaded Premiership.
Obviously, there's a big difference in overall playing strength between the two regions.
For this reason it is heartening to see the new initiative recently announced by Tauranga City chairperson Brendon McHugh.
The club has lured WaiBOP Federation football development officer Barry Gardiner to sign on in a full-time technical director role. He'll be heading up a talent development panel rich in coaching and development experience at junior, youth and senior levels, including Gareth Thomson, Maia Ririnui, Cameron Grieve and the club's first team coach Nic Millichip.
So the good intentions are there, but will the follow-up be as strong?
The Bay has seen clubs trumpeting grandiose elite development plans, only to fall away when the rubber hits the road, before. Players – and parents who often foot large chunks of the bill – have been left feeling seriously let down.
The signs are positive, however, that Tauranga City is aware of this issue of setting expectations too high and then failing to deliver, and is determined not to fall into the same trap.
It comes down to the commitment of the people making it happen, says Nic Millichip.
'We've got to drive it. The club is committed to it but we – Barry, myself, Maia, Cam – we need to drive it and make sure things are happening. These things can't just be a flash-in-the-pan. It is actually putting these things in place and then working on it and being consistent in what we put out there.
'It just takes time, and we've got to put the effort in to build it, and make sure we're getting other people in and really driving it.”
Bringing back Barry Gardiner, who made a big impression with the club in the senior men's head coach role last year, is an excellent step, Nic says.
'Yeah it's great getting Barry. We worked well together last year, and I'm really pleased he's going to be back with us too. He's got a lot of strings to his bow in coach education and places he's been, and lots of experience, which I think we can all feed off and challenge each other to an extent to become better coaches.”
So the signs are good that Tauranga City's initiative will produce results, not just to help its own top teams reach their Northern Premier League goals but for the wider game in the Bay of Plenty as well.
But as any good striker well tell you, goals only come if you get the delivery right.