WHEN CSU women's co-coach Daniel Adamson says he expects the flood gates to open at Parkes on Saturday he's not talking about the weather - he's talking about Olivia Flood.
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She's a player that Adamson feels has the potential to be a star of the Central West Rugby Union's women's North Cup.
Flood is one of the new faces in CSU's forward pack this season and while she's not had any prior rugby union experience, she is a proven and fierce sporting competitor.
Last season she was a member of the Bathurst Giants side which won the AFL Central West women's premiership.
"She's never played rugby before ever, but she's very eager to learn. She comes from an AFL background and I think that helps. That ability to hit the line and continue through is quite hard to teach and I said to her that she has a real knack for it," Adamson said.
"I think it helps having that AFL background because when they get tackled, when they get hit, it's important to work through it and get out of it really quick. She also does a lot of crossfit gym work and you can tell, she's just so powerful.
"I think she surprised herself as well as surprising everyone else, she's an absolute beast. I think the competition need to watch out for Liv Flood, I think she's our danger player."
Flood was certainly one of the standouts in CSU's pre-season trial against Orange City, but Adamson was impressed by her fellow forwards as a whole.
And it is the forward pack that he is tipping to be a major strength this season.
"In the past two years with CSU it's always been our backs that have been the danger, but I think this year it's switched around and our forwards are going to be the real danger with Liv Flood leading the way. I think they are the X-factor now," he said.
"There's a little bit of mongrel there which is something CSU has lacked in past seasons. I was surprised with our ability to work down the middle against Orange City because they were quite big, our forwards just rolled straight through the middle.
"i was also really impressed with the catch-pass from the forwards. A six-week pre-season isn't long to teach them the finer skills ... but everyone just worked in unison, the catch-pass from the forwards as they transitioned the ball to the backs, it was pretty unreal."
That trial against Orange City was followed by another against Temora last Saturday but it is this Saturday at Parkes that CSU will finally get the chance to play for premiership points.
This season instead of a combined women's competition, it has been split into three separate premierships. CSU has been grouped with Narromine, Mudgee and newcomers Parkes.
Parkes played a trial match against Young last week which they won 47-0, so they shape as a formidable opponent.
"Parkes is always a bit of a tough trip ... and we don't know what to expect from Parkes, we don't know if they're good down the middle or out wide, so it will be interesting to see where we are at," Adamson said.
"If we get the win we need to work harder and move forward and if we get a loss, it's again work harder because we know where we will be at."
