The stakes are high for the Matildas at their Coffs Harbour camp. Just two months ago their Beijing Olympic dreams were destroyed by successive defeats to North Korea, but now they’re less than 30 days away from a shot at redemption at the Women’s World Cup in China.

It is a chance at glory that rarely comes the way of female footballers in this country and one they are desperate to grab, but with just a few days left in Coffs and without the benefit of a national women’s competition to keep them in form and fitness, it’s a race against time to develop the teamwork and execution needed to conquer the world.

And so we find the team’s brainstrust hard at work on the bus ride back from the Matildas’ final training session before a “dead” Olympic qualifier against Chinese Taipei. Coaching supremo Tom Sermanni is deep thought as team manager Jo “the Colonel” Sanders quizzes him about player movements in the final 24 hours before kick-off.

In a lazy Scottish drawl, Sermanni mumbles a quick response to the Colonel’s concerns before getting down to the issue that’s really bothering him: "Archaic work for sulfur, nine letters?” Beefy trainer Tim Rogers risks his reputation and fires back in a flash with “brimstone”.

It’s no wonder really that Sermanni needed help with 12-Across – there is very little fire and brimstone in the 53-year-old’s coaching style.

Indeed the only mildly heated moments during training that morning had come in some quick verbal exchanges between Sermanni and the Matildas’ feisty left-back Heather Garriock – and it’s suggested by some in camp that stirring up Garriock is no more than an amusing pastime for the coaching staff between card games and “football-golf” challenges.

“I’ve never been an ‘in-your-face’ type of character. It’s just not me,” admits Sermanni later on his way to a spot of putting practice at the Matildas resort retreat. “When you go into coaching, at first there’s a perception that you’ve got to suddenly be this confrontational, ‘I’m the boss’ kind of person – they see how Alex Ferguson does things. It’s never really been me. I think this squad has got used to me by now, but you never know. Coaches tend to be delusional.

“But our players have other things to balance in their lives and they want football to be something that they enjoy coming to.

I don’t know if ‘fun’ is the right word, but you have to create an environment that people want to be in.”

The approach seems to work. Training starts with plenty of giggles and chatter with ball-juggling games as the players get themselves organised. But as soon as the drills begin a competitiveness and concentration falls over the group. Laughter is replaced with cries of encouragement and barked instructions. Interestingly the players themselves do most of the barking, constantly communicating to each other in intense mock game situations, with Sermanni interjecting only occasionally.

Sermanni’s players certainly appreciate the style of the dry Scot, who returned for a second stint in charge of the Matildas just two and a half years ago. Sermanni’s appointment followed the intense tenure of Adrian Santrac, who left with reports of favouritism and a player affair hanging over his head.

Goalkeeper Melissa “Bubs” Barbieri – a five year veteran of the Matildas squad – says the relaxed atmosphere “is very much something that Tommy’s brought into the team and developed”.

From the moment training begins on the Saturday morning, it’s obvious why Barbieri, 27, is considered one of the big personalities of the Matildas, as she bounces onto the pitch with plenty of volume and the planting of a massive kiss on the cheek of a team-mate.

“He can be very tactical when he wants to be,” Barbieri says of Sermanni’s style. “But he generally looks at our strengths more, playing to our prowess and making sure we do our jobs, because on our day we can beat anybody.”

Just as we get onto the Matildas’ invincibility and how they’re going to kick butt in China, Barbieri is interrupted by a team-mate wanting to check out what she’s wearing.

“It’s my new goalkeeping strip!” she says gleefully, far removed from the grumpy words about the fit of the new uniforms that she first greeted the garments with.

But just like at training Barbieri snaps straight back to focus on the task at hand: “Tommy likes to add some something different to our game – like man-marking one of their players out of the blue. He has very explosive ideas. He keeps us on our toes.”

While the Matildas seem like they’re enjoying a holiday during their free time, it is clear the team is hard at work on the pitch.

“We have a lot of fun, but we get down to business when it’s time to switch on. If you’re not capable of doing that you probably won’t get the time on the park,” Barbieri warns. “There’s a lot of self-responsibility being away from the team.”