LAST season Maddie Reilly was used off the bench for CSU, but this season she shapes as a key member in their bid to win the Central West Rugby Union's women's North Cup.
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Reilly starred on the wing CSU's season-opening 36-7 win over Parkes last Saturday in a performance which featured not just touch in attack, but some crunching defence too.
"Last year she played a lot of the season off the bench, she started on the wing for us against Parkes, scored a try and her defence was probably the reason that we won," co-coach Daniel Adamson said.
"On the edge she just really jammed in and pulled off a couple of aggressive shots that I felt actually put Parkes off their game.
"When they wanted to swing it wide Maddie was there to meet them. She took home the man of the match."
This Saturday when CSU hosts Wellington at University Oval, Reilly will once again be looking to exploit any defensive gaps when she has the ball and when she doesn't it will be about trying to pull off some more intimidating bone-rattlers.
But she is by no means the only member of CSU's squad that Wellington should be wary of.
Adamson said the entire squad is training hard and learned from their win against Parkes that if they can control the tempo, the points will come.
"After half-time our girls slowed it down and started to play at our pace and we walked over Parkes," the coach said. "That Parkes game showed us where we are at, all the girls are on the same page at the moment, which is really good to see.
"There's a lot of intent in every duel we do at the moment, which has really put the smile on my face, it's great. So the intent is there, so hopefully we can go out on Saturday and put our good work at training onto the field."
Last season when their was one combined women's premiership, Wellington won five of its 13 games to finish in 10th spot. CSU won both their meetings comfortably, posting 39-5 and 60-10 results.
While Adamson does not know much about Wellington's squad this season, other than they lost 60-0 to Mudgee in their season opener, he anticipates size in the forward pack and speed on the fringes.
It is something he feels that CSU will be able to counter.
"I don't know too much about them, I think they are quite big down the middle - I think that's probably going to be the same with all the teams we are versing this year," he said.
"We are notoriously quite small, but the way we're working down the middle at the moment, we'll press anyone. We are not the biggest, but we are rolling through the middle and our defence is great at the moment.
"I'd imagine Wellington will have a few league girls and a bit of speed out wide too, so I'm interested to see how they go."
The match will kick off at 12.45pm at University Oval, with CSU's second grade (1.55pm) and first XV (3.20pm) to take on Narromine in the other fixtures.
