Australian netball coach Norma Plummer will look to her bench to continue the momentum of the team's first Test upset against New Zealand.

While Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken shuffled players in Wellington, Plummer stuck with her starting seven and reaped the reward of a come-from-behind 51-47 win.

But with three matches to play in five days, Plummer is unlikely to try that again.

"Without putting some other legs out on the court we might run our top seven into the ground," she said.

"We've got a bench and we're going to have to look at using it because of the turnaround time."

Captain Liz Ellis said while Australia pretty much had its best seven on the court in Wellington, there was plenty of talent waiting on the bench.

She said goal shooter Catherine Cox, defender Bianca Chatfield, newcomer Julie Prendergast and midcourter Natasha Chokljat were all good options.

"To bring them on won't really change our stride too much," Ellis said.

Both captain and coach were careful not to get carried away by Australia's first victory in New Zealand in five years.

"That's only game one. It'll be just as tough and it'll go down to the wire in the next two games," Plummer said.

Ellis is wary of a strong comeback by the world champion Silver Ferns.

"They'll be stung by last night so I'm sure they'll come out a bit harder," she said.

But the 108-Test veteran believes Australia has room for improvement, too.

"We won't sit back and rest after that game because there's many things we did wrong."

"I think when we look at that game, there's things we can do a lot better and it would be good to have another win on Saturday night."

Aitken was criticised for replacing defenders Vilimaina Davu and Anna Scarlett at halftime when New Zealand led by three points.

The Australians thrived in attack in the second half, bringing the game back to 37-37 at three-quarter time.

Davu came back on in the last quarter but couldn't prevent the midcourt from feeding shooters Sharelle McMahon and Susan Pratley for five unanswered goals to take the match.

Despite the apparent blunder, Ellis believes Aitken will do the same again.

"I wasn't surprised to see Vili come off and then come back into the game.

"We're opening up some pretty good spaces on their defensive line so I imagine that would happen again."

A few controversial umpiring decisions favouring Australia aside, Silver Ferns captain Adine Wilson said her team had tried to play it too safe in the second half.

Aitken said she'll be focusing on her players' minds instead of their bodies to swing the series back New Zealand's way.

"When you've got a short turnaround between Tests, most of it's attitudinal," the coach said.

"You're not going to change a player's skills, but you can turn around that single-minded desire and determination to do it despite everything."

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