Souths coach Tracey van Dal wanted Lions to be unpredictable as they eyed more Newcastle championship netball success in 2022.
It could prove last year's minor premiers' greatest asset as teams approach a busy second half of what has been in itself an unpredictable season.
The competition reached round 10 on Saturday but teams only hit their midpoints with a seventh outing.
In yet another unprecedented year, which has followed two interrupted by COVID, four rounds have been washed out due to wet weather.
One has already been caught up and rounds nine (Sunday, July 17), three (Sunday, July 24) and six (Saturday, August 13) have been rescheduled.
There is also a spare date of Sunday, August 14 for any further rain-affected rounds.
It means teams will play successive weekend double-headers when the competition resumes after the next two weekends off and adaptability, depth and versatility are going to prove pivotal.
A somewhat new-look Souths produced a resounding 69-22 win over Kotara South on Saturday to remain unbeaten on top of the standings with 23 points.
Most pleasing for van Dal was the fact they did it without four of their players.
Souths were missing Millie Tonkin and Katelyn Stansfield from the shooting end, centre Narelle Eather and defender Laura Neale.
"It was a big win, especially considering I had four Lions players unavailable so we had girls in different combinations," van Dal said.
"They were pushed out of their comfort zone and they were absolutely sensational. They did not miss a beat."
Imogen McCulloch stepped up from opens and played three-quarters of the match at goal shooter in a "brilliant" performance.
Circle defender Nakita Jackson played goal shooter for the last quarter and Lucy Tonkin, who is generally used at wing defence and goal defence, played a full game at centre.
"[Nakita] was fantastic," van Dal said. "She has come from a shooting background before switching to the defence end, so she was great.
"Up until the morning of the game I didn't think I had any shooters available so plan D was Nakita was going to have to play the game at shooter.
"But Danielle Taylor ended up playing after having had four wisdom teeth out on Wednesday and a mouthful of stitches, so an absolute trooper to play the whole game at goal attack and was superb as well.
"The last quarter was just about having some options all over the court for us coming into semis."
Souths next face University of Newcastle (21), who seized outright second with a three-goal win over now fourth-placed West Leagues Balance (19) on Saturday. Lions play University on July 16 then back up against West the following day.
"The [NSW] premier league girls won't be able to play full games over two weekends," van Dal said.
"We're lucky for them to play one game on a weekend, let alone two in two consecutive weekends, so that's going to be an issue in the next two weekends back.
"Our plan always this year was being unpredictable. We certainly have got the depth and talent in the team to be able to do what we did [on Saturday] and put girls in different positions. They just slotted in beautifully.
"It's hard because we get a good win with whatever combination we have on that day and then we seem to have a couple of weeks off then we have another good win with another combination and then another week off. On the weekend we had a great win with complete new combinations from one end to the other now we have two weeks off, so it's been a very stop-start season."
