Alyssa Healy will tell Australia to ensure they throw the first punch in the Ashes, knowing an early blow could prove hard to overcome in a congested series.
Desperate to keep their grip on the Ashes for a sixth straight series, Australia will enter Sunday's opening ODI as firm favourites at North Sydney Oval.
This summer marks the eighth time the Ashes have been decided over a multi-format series, with three ODIs to be followed by three T20s and a Test at the MCG.
But never has the schedule been so chaotic.
The desire to fit the series between the end of the men's summer and before India's WPL competition means 10 days of cricket in the space of 22 days.
With travel between each game, teams will only have three training sessions between the six white-ball games, then there is a four-day gap before the Test.
That in itself will make Sunday's series opener even more important, with both sides believing momentum could be hard to shift in the series.
"England are a big emotional team, and if you let them get in front they are really good at staying in front," Healy said.
"For us, we're hopefully coming (on Sunday) throwing the first punch and saying 'good luck catching us'.
"You want to get out there and take the first two points, and then you can hopefully settle in from there.
"If we can manage our emotions and our bodies in particular, we will go a long way to winning it."
England captain Heather Knight also considers Sunday crucial for the same reason.
"Momentum is going to be hard to wrestle back if you lose it early," Knight said.
"But we lost the Test match and the first T20 in the last Ashes series (in 2023) and were able to wrestle it back (to draw on points).
"The closeness of it can make it hard.
"But mentally we are prepared for that, and even if we don't start well we know we have the character and skill in the side to try and wrestle things back."
The other factor for both sides will be workloads.
Australia have the advantage of being at home with easy access to reserves, but Healy has indicated the bowlers could be rotated at times.
England have brought an extended 19-woman squad for the series, with coach Jon Lewis expressing fears about needing to rotate players before he'd even landed.
There is already a concern over the fitness of veteran seamer Kate Cross due to back pain, potentially impacting any of the tourists' plans to rotate their bowlers.
"It's going to be tough, particularly with the fast bowlers and the closeness of the games and travel," Knight said.
"You want to play your best team as much as you can, but we'll have to keep in mind the nature of the tour.
"It's going to be the same for both teams, but I think we need to be smart with how we rotate the team."
