When Marianna Tolo arrives in Bendigo for WNBL preseason she hopes to have some extra, precious cargo in tow.
The dual Olympian, on the verge of a third Games in Paris, wants to win an Olympic medal with the Opals before resuming her national league career with the Spirit who's she signed on with for season 2024-25.
The 196cm forward/centre, who turns 35 next week, has spent the past three years in Europe.
"It's the dream, an Olympic medal for your country is everything you work towards. I've been lucky enough to be able to go two Olympics and to get a medal would be the cherry on top," she tells ESPN.
"I think that would give me extra motivation to do this WNBL season and finish on a high as well.
"It's such an exciting opportunity that lies ahead in Paris."
Tolo has played her entire 10-season, 218-game WNBL career representing the nation's capital, first the AIS as a teenage scholarship holder then the UC Capitals where she won four championships.
It was her husband Dan, a highly respected sports administrator, who led the couple to regional Victoria by landing the general manager job at the Bendigo Spirit.
"I'd been thinking about coming home for a while and the timing was right. We were always on the look out for this sort of thing, I've had a good opportunity playing overseas but we knew Dan was on the look out for work when we came back to Australia and when this job came up it was the right time to come home," Tolo explains.
"I've got a really good friend here (in Bendigo) in Kelsey Griffin, I've played for Kennedy (coach Kennedy Kereama) before and he'd been trying to get me to Bendigo for the last couple of years actually so when Dan got the job here then all the stars started to align.
"It's a challenge in a way because you're comfortable when you're somewhere you know and you've got your routines and your people and that was Canberra so this is something new and that's exciting.
"I'm looking forward to stepping outside my comfort zone."
Tolo and Griffin formed the league's premier front court for Canberra throughout back-to-back titles in 2018-19 and 2019-20.
Now, in the twilight of their storied careers they team up again and are hungry to achieve the ultimate success and return Bendigo to finals for the first time since 2015.
"Kelsey was a big part of those championships in Canberra so it's really exciting to get back on court with her," Tolo says.
"You're always hungry for more, it's really exciting to get a bit of a sniff at it (a championship) again. Obviously, there's lots of players still to be decided on as to who's going to be with us but I don't think anyone can count us out."
Tolo has long been the Opals best performed player at representative level and her experience, leadership and intimate knowledge of the international game, gleaned from many years playing throughout Europe, makes her one of Australia's biggest keys.
She took out the Most Impressive Player award in Australia's two-game tour of Japan last weekend and will suit up for the Opals against China next week as part of the Ballin'24 extravaganza at John Cain Arena.
Australia host the tourists in games on July 3 and July 5 as preparations are fine tuned for the Games.
There was no such preparation for the Tokyo Olympics because of the pandemic and the Opals are already reaping the rewards of crucial time together on court.
"For our non-WNBA contingent, to have this elite level competition of international games against China and Japan who are two of the best teams in the world at the moment, they're really tough to play against, is really invaluable and is already ten times better than our preparation for Tokyo," Tolo says.
"Getting everyone together will be really exciting but I think especially for the squad members who don't make the final team to have had that international experience is invaluable not just for now but later down the track. I'm sure there will be a few people to retire from the national team (post Olympics) and that sort of thing so that experience is just gold and you don't get anything like it."
In Paris, the Opals will strive to return to the podium for the first time since London, 2012 after disappointing finishes in Rio (5th) then Tokyo (8th).
Australia claimed a bronze medal, with Lauren Jackson sinking 30 points against Canada, at its last major tournament - the 2022 FIBA World Cup in Sydney.
"You can't go in with that mentality (that we will finish on the podium), nothing is given to you, you have to earn it so we can't go in expecting to win because of our last results and who we are and what we've done," Tolo says.
"I think we need to perform on court and the way we do that is by sticking to ourselves and being true to the Opals legacy.
"I think we can do anything. The special thing about an Olympics is it's the pinnacle event of our sport and everyone, every country always shows up.
"It's never easy and my experience with Olympics so far is that it's such a dog fight and it really is anyone's game.
"There's only 12 teams and it's incredible how close those games are. It's so much harder at an Olympics because everyone's ready to put their best foot forward, everyone's trained for this moment and prepared to do whatever it takes.
"I think we do have the potential to do really well but we can't go in with the attitude that it's just given to us."