If things go well in the Ingles family, netball star Renae and her basketballer husband Joe won't see each other for three weeks and on September 15 they will both be celebrating while holding aloft glittering trophies.
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As part of the Melbourne Vixens team, Renae will square off against Collingwood Magpies in a sudden-death Super Netball final on Sunday while Joe left Australia this week as part of the Boomers side playing at the World Cup in China.
If both of their teams advance through to the grand final, they will play on the same day.
"If all goes to plan hopefully we will be playing on the big stage on the same day in gold medal matches," Renae Ingles told AAP.
"That's exciting for both of us and that's what we're used to, supporting each other from afar so we will just do it again."
The Vixens and Magpies met in the final round of regular competition last Sunday, with a desperate Collingwood, who needed a big win to make the play-offs, triumphant 58-47.
The Vixens already had the home final locked in and Ingles said they were disappointed in their performance.
But the former Diamonds wing defence was confident they would be able to lift with their season on the line.
"We didn't like the look of the scoreboard but the exciting thing about finals is that it's a whole new ball game and we're really excited as we know we've done the work to set us up for a great finals series," the 33-year-old said.
"We think that they're probably the most in-form team in the competition and a huge challenge for us but it's challenge accepted."
After watching Joe and the Boomers upset the United States in front of a 50,000-plus crowd at Marvel Stadium, Ingles said it was tough that the netball semi-final had to return to the State Netball and Hockey Centre, which holds just 3,000 - with Melbourne's Olympic Park booked out for an esports convention.
With two Melbourne teams in action, the game would have easily of attracted a crowd of 10,000.
"It's obviously disappointing as there's a lot of fans missing out on a great netball match between two Melbourne sides," she said.
"For us as athletes, it's out of our hands so it's just about putting our best foot forward and getting on with business."
The match could be the last ever for Ingles, who announced her plans for retirement at the end of the season.
Lured out of retirement last year as a replacement player for the pregnant Chloe Watson, Ingles said there would be no return this time.
"I'm not even thinking about retirement, all I'm thinking about is going out there and doing my job for the Vixens.
"Finals really excites me and it's not over for me yet - hopefully we'll have a couple more weeks to go."
Australian Associated Press
