THEY have been hurt by their Super W rivals, but now is the time to watch for a Rebel uprising.
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That is the message from Melbourne Rebels coach Alana Thomas ahead of Sunday's final round Super W match against the New South Wales Waratahs in Bathurst.
Thomas admitted it wasn't easy to watch her side handed heavy defeats by Queensland (112-0) then ACT (69-0) to start their campaign, but she was happy with how they responded to push RugbyWA before going down 38-10.
It is that performance Thomas, a former Wallaroo who also spent time in an Orange Emus and Forbes Platypi jersey, wants them to build on come Sunday.
"That first round really knocked us for six, it certainly was not something we could see coming, I don't think anyone could see that scoreline blow out the way it did," she said.
"Then we suffered from that in the Canberra game, just the mental side of things we were still very scarred from it [loss to Queensland].
"When we played WA we just really tried to make it fun and that result was a big turnaround for the girls and I am expecting a similar sort of performance come Sunday."
Thomas would love to naturally love for her Rebels to win at her old Central West stomping ground, but she knows they will be underdogs against the undefeated Waratahs.
Still, on the flipside, that means the pressure rests on the shoulder of New South Wales.
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"They're undefeated champions and I've said it a couple of times to a few different people, they probably haven't played at their best yet. So if we can put pressure on early and really make them have to fight, we are a chance of that pressure really starting to build on them," she said.
"We've got nothing to lose. For us this week will be a measure of how much we have improved and defines our season. That's the key thing this weekend - if we finish on a good note and put in a really good performance and get close to New South Wales, that will be big win for us.
"It's actually cool to come back to a ground I played on and I am familiar with."
Even if the Rebels can't spring an upset at Ashwood Park, Thomas knows better things lie ahead for her young squad. The experience they have gained playing against Australia's best this year will aid their development.
"We've got a lot of young girls, we don't have that depth of players and we are also competing with one of the most competitive female sports markets that is the AFLW down here," she said.
"We've got to fight for our talent, so we deliberately made the decision to go with a lot of younger girls this year and then build that talent over the next two or three years."
Kick off on Sunday is at 3pm.