Souths take on Bathurst City in women's Premier League Hockey opening round derby

And what a game it is, too.

A new-look two blues squad will make a long awaited start in the women's Premier League Hockey competition against cross-city rivals Bathurst City, who themselves have several new players looking to leave their mark.

Even with so much uncertainty about how strong Souths' cohesion will be due to a difficult build up, Stafford said that excuse won't fly.

"There's definitely a bit of uncertainty. We've picked up a couple of girls from Zig Zag and a couple from Pat's," Stafford said.

"To be honest, with the way the competition is structured, you can just really say you'll go out there and see what happens. You've got to be ready to go otherwise you'll be behind the 8-ball."

Sarah Watterson and Emma White will be wearing the two blues this season after coming across from St Pat's, and they'll be joined by a host a welcome Zig Zag recruits, since the Lithgow club couldn't field a team in 2020.

Jess Watterson's return to her junior club adds to a big collection of attacking threats.

"Sarah's had a lot of experience at Australian country level and brings a lot coming back to the club," Stafford said.

"A couple of girls, Kelsie White, Maddy McLean and Sam Dean, have also come over from Zig Zag and they've been looking strong at training."

Those training chances were initially very limited for Souths and all their Premier League Hockey rivals.

Progress has been much stronger in the last fortnight for Souths, with noticeable improvement in that time.

But even when stricter COVID-19 restrictions were in place Stafford said the social benefits from just getting onto the field were a big boost for the club.

"The girls are really excited. They've all been training well and they're very keen for Saturday," he said.

"The last two weeks of training have been very productive but the two before that were pretty difficult with only 10 on each side because we had to break up into small groups. But even them just being able to get back and see each other again was really good."

Souths would have been underdogs for most clashes against Bathurst City in the past but that scales have started to level over the past few seasons.

The two blues scored a long awaited victory against City in 2019 and will have ambitions to repeat that effort on Saturday to get their season off to a winning start, and teamwork is the number one key to that success.

"We spoke about the game at training and I don't think we can go into any game with preconceived ideas about other teams because every team have changed so much," Stafford said.

"I know City have a couple of players back this year who might not have played for one or two years, so as to what position they're going to be in I couldn't say.

"I just want to see the team gel since we have a lot of new faces and girls stepping up into leadership roles that they haven't been in before. I'm not sure what to expect but if they're playing as a team that's all I can hope for."

Souths and Bathurst City face off at 2.15pm on Bob Roach Field.