The roster was reduced to 14 players on Saturday with the departure of Kate Butters and Georgia Jones as Maher took another step towards finalising his squad of 12 for the Olympic Games.
And among those who remain, he is seeing signs that Great Britain's best are ready to take another major step forward in unison.
"We have quality players," declared Maher. "We're not going to be the most loaded team. We're not going to have a bunch of 6-foot-5 gazelles. But we're going to be a competitive team.
"We've had a real fillip with one girl coming in for her first year in Temi Fagbenle. She's special.
"But everybody is so much more professional. Their IQ is better. They've taken a leap forward."
Fagbenle, who has just completed her first year at Harvard, and Dominique Allen, fresh from finishing her degree at Oral Roberts University, will be in line to win their first caps against the powerful Croatians who are building towards next month's Olympic qualifying tournament in Turkey after reaching the quarter-finals of last year's EuroBasket Women in Poland.
It is the first of 17 warm-up fixtures for GB in a schedule that also includes games in Belgium, Turkey, China and the Czech Republic, as well as two Standard Life Game On tournaments in Edinburgh and Sheffield.
With Durham-born forward Chantelle Handy back to full fitness after recovering from a broken metatarsal, Maher is now keen to put theory into practice with one eye on the Olympics.
And with three more tests to come next weekend in a four-team tournament in Belgium before Britain hosts Canada at Meadowbank on June 9 and 10, the veteran coach is expecting his side to be challenged from the start.
"Croatia's in our league," he said. "Canada would be ranked considerably above us. But they're great tests, fantastic.
"The preparation is spot on. As long as we stay healthy, we couldn't ask for better preparation as a coach, you couldn't ask for better organisation. It makes my job really easy."
Standard Life GB senior women's final 14:
|
Name |
Home Nation |
Current Club/College |
|
DOMINIQUE ALLEN |
England |
Oral Roberts University, USA |
|
ROSE ANDERSON |
Scotland |
UWIC Archers, Cardiff |
|
KIM BUTLER |
England |
SK Cesis, Latvia |
|
STEF COLLINS |
England |
UWIC Archers, Cardiff |
|
TEMI FAGBENLE |
England |
Harvard University, USA |
|
STEPH GANDY |
England |
Sheffield Hatters |
|
CHANTELLE HANDY |
England |
Athinaikos, Greece |
|
JO LEEDHAM |
England |
Bulleen Boomers, Australia |
|
JULIE PAGE |
England |
Torun, Poland |
|
NATALIE STAFFORD |
England |
Sydney University Flames, Australia |
|
AZANIA STEWART |
England |
University of Florida, USA |
|
LAUREN THOMAS-JOHNSON |
England |
Sheffield Hatters |
|
RACHEL VANDERWAL |
England |
University of Limerick, Ireland |
|
JENEYA WADE-FRAY |
England |
UWIC Archers, Cardiff |
