And while Panthers may have won five from as many matches and sitting pretty on top of the ladder, Souths coach Angela Johnson believes her team has what it takes to claim victory in the sixth round match.

"I think you've got to rate yourself for any match," she said.

"[Lithgow] have won all of their matches and got out ahead in the points score, but our goal and the commitment we're trying to achieve each game remains the same.

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"We want to play every quarter and improve as a team, so I think the conversation at training centre around us.

"We've got to rate ourselves for every game."

From five matches, Souths has managed just one win (3-2 against Parkes in round four), but only has the one loss against its name (2-1 to Orange United in round one), while drawing three matches throughout the 2021 season to St Pat's (2-all in round two), Ex-Services (2-all in round three) and CYMS (1-all in round five).

Johnson believes her team will have to be on its game in both defence and attack, if Souths want to get the win against Lithgow.

"Lithgow find the back of the net, so your defence has to be on point and there's got to be clear communication," she said.

"That said, we need to attack in these games too.

"So while we identified we need a strong defensive effort, our attack needs to make the most of its opportunities up front.

"We've named a team of 15. We've got a squad we are drawing from. We had another positive training session and the leadership team worked in small groups, so that they can get the message to the playing group about what we want to do."

Saturday's match between Souths and Lithgow Panthers is set to get underway from the Lithgow Hockey Centre at 1.30pm.

In other matches, Orange United will clash with local rivals CYMS in an all Orange derby, Ex-Services will host Bathurst City and Souths will travel away to play Parkes.

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