"Yep. Definitely."
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Georgie Barrett wasted no time in answering on Sunday when asked if her Orange CYMS side has what it takes to win this year's Western Premiership league tag competition.
Barrett was speaking after scoring a double in her side's 18-10 victory over Dubbo CYMS at Apex Oval in week one of the finals.
The young gun's speed was a decisive factor in the all-CYMS battle but it was just one weapon in the Orange lineup.
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In Barrett, Hope Gibson, Tori Moore and Prestwidge sisters Bec and Caitlin the Group 10 side has creative outlets all over the park while their defence and tagging on Sunday was elite.
"All these girls are amazing players and they're such a good bunch of girls to play with," Barrett added.
Orange CYMS will need that confidence as their path to the decider became a little more tricky on the weekend.
Bathurst St Pat's, the previously unbeaten Group 10 minor premiers, suffered a shock loss to the Macquarie Raidettes.
That result means Pat's could meet Orange CYMS in a massive preliminary final should they defeat Forbes next weekend.
Dubbo CYMS now faces a trip to Orange next weekend and a do-or-die meeting with Mudgee, with the winner to go on and face Macquarie.
The Dubbo side will be sweating on the fitness of captain-coach Madi Drew, who had to be carried off during the second half on Sunday due to an ankle injury.
"She'll be alright," Nic Grose, Dubbo trainer and coaching staff member, said after the game.
"She'll be fine and it was probably a little bit precautionary carrying her around.
"We get another crack. It's not all doom and gloom and we did a lot of good things."
While the Orange side was the better of the two on Sunday, it wasn't always easy.
Having trailed 6-0 at halftime after struggling to break the visitors' defence, Dubbo CYMS roared into life early in the second stanza and tries for Alahna Ryan and Emily Caton in the space of five minutes - the latter after some lovely play from Drew - put them in front.
There were some tense moments for the Orange side - who had already won at Apex during the regular season - but their ability to shift the ball quickly across the park meant they were always a threat.
With 15 minutes remaining it was a move on the right edge that led to Barrett racing through back on the inside to score. Dubbo CYMS protested a tag had been made in the lead-up but it was awarded and Barrett's conversion put the visitors back in control.
Then, with five minutes remaining, the result was confirmed when Orange went right again and Tez Moore went over and Barrett's boot made it an eight-point game.
"That was tough. They're a good side and we had a bit of a slow start to the second half but then we got back into it and started playing our game again," Barrett said.
"When they started scoring it was a bit nervous but we just had to keep playing our game, pushing through the middle, working on our tagging and being there for each other."
Grose was upbeat post-game and said despite two losses to their Orange rivals this year, the belief within the Dubbo team was still well alight.
"We've got the belief we can win the whole comp and any team in the finals should have that belief," she said.
"No one is down. We're all good, we're up and we'll get back to training and get back into it."
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