This paper explores some aspects of effective professional mentoring practice for early career mathematics and science teachers, and discusses the Early Support Program (ESP), a research project conducted in 2009 and 2010 at a large Australian metropolitan university. It is argued that better outcomes may result from a more strategic "tailoring" of mentoring "type" for different aspects of new teacher induction, especially as school-based mentors often have insufficient time or training to support them. The ESP has been trialling its more "distanced" mentoring model, tracking the issues that a group of new teachers chose to discuss with their mentors, and exploring this further through focus groups and case studies. The project has indicated that more flexible, off-campus mentoring assistance may serve some needs particularly well, and that it may also alleviate the pressure placed upon teachers in schools. A secondary aim of the ESP research was to prepare an appropriate resource for teachers, based on its findings, and this has now been done. (Contains 4 figures.)