THEY are athletic, enthusiastic and many of them have already won premierships this year, but the Panorama Platypi know their Women's Western Rugby League semi-final aspirations hinge on posting a win this Saturday.
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The new-look Playtpi have endured a tough start to the new season as they fell to defending champions Orange Vipers 36-10 in round one then went down to a strong Woodbridge Cup outfit 34-8.
But those two games have allowed those new to the sport - more than half of Kevin Grimshaw's squad - to get a better grasp of the fundamentals.
Grinshaw can certainly see the raw athletic ability in his new recruits, players like Maddie Reilly who starred on the wing for CSU'S North Cup premiership winning rugby union outfit.
Erin Naden, who has won multiple league tag titles with St Pat's, brings plenty of attacking flair to the unit given her speed and ability to exploit gaps in a defensive line.
He also has a handful of the AFL Central West premiership winning Bathurst Giants outfit in Katie Kennedy, Elise Gullifer, Aimee Schmidt and Chelsea Gibbs.
Gibbs certainly impressed him in her debut match against Woodbridge.
"She hasn't played before and I give her the number 8 jumper, front row straight off the bat, and she did real well," he said.
"Even when there were two and three in the tackle she was off-loading the ball, none of them went to ground either. She came up to me after and said she absolutely loved it."
Still, when the Platypi host the Castlereagh Cougars at Jack Arrow Oval on Saturday Grimshaw knows what area needs to be better. The Panorama outfit must prevent their rivals from enjoying second-phase plays in attack.
"We're probably more enthusiastic than the other teams we've been playing I think, but our defence is the major problem, putting them on the ground," Grimshaw said.
"We've played teams that have got some off-loads in them and we aren't dealing with that real well. If we are going backwards all the time we can't change momentum, we can't go in their and whack 'em and slow the play down.
"I'm happy with our attitude and our performances I've been happy with, but we need to tighten up defensively because we've got some really good attacking players."
The Platypi will be boosted by the inclusion of five-eighth Bronte Emanuel this Saturday. Like Meredith Jones, she played in the CSU Mungals Mid West premiership wining league tag side this season.
Her playmaking skills will be valuable as the Platypi must hand the Cougars their third straight loss to stay in title contention.
"This game on the weekend is very important, we've had two hard games but this game here, we've got to put all our eggs in the basket for this game if we want to play the semis," Grimshaw said.
"If we want to make the semi-finals this is it, we've got to win this game. The next two games, if we can win them, I think we're a chance of making the top four."
The action on Saturday begins at 9am with the under 13s development squad, with the under 14s (10am), under 16s (11.20am), under 18s (12.40pm) and opens (2pm) to follow at Jack Arrow Oval.
