More than half of Group 10’s side hails from either Bathurst Panthers or Bathurst St Pat’s and the fact many also played together in the premiership-winning Western Women’s Rugby League side bodes well for the five-time defending champions.

St Pat’s star Meredith Jones, while heaping credit on the players from outside Bathurst too, said there’s little doubt that familiarity will help in Saturday’s match-up with Woodbridge Cup, and the final too if her side progresses.

“I was fortunate enough to play Group 10 rugby league with a lot of the Panthers girls as well. They’ve also got so much to offer when we go up against them,” Jones, named in the back-row, said.

“Getting the opportunity to play alongside them, especially Amy Hewitt, Jess Hotham and Monique Christie-Johnston, is great. As a trio they bring so much to the team.

Claire Woolmington, Erin Naden, Mish Somers, Nicole Schneider, Lailee Phillips, Bronte Emanuel and Kaitlyn Phillips are the other Bathurst players named for Group 10, although Naden and Phillips played for Orange Hawks until this year.

The side is also bolstered by Blayney Bears fullback Sophie Stammers and star Hawks duo Bec Ford and Ella-J Harris.

Considering that undeniable firepower and strong hit-outs on the training paddock, Jones said her side happy with where it’s at leading in.

“We’re really happy with we’re we are at though. We had training on Wednesday night and there was a really positive attitude from everyone in the team,” she said.

“Hopefully no matter what the other groups throw at us we’ve got a lot going on in our team that’s going to be beneficial for the weekend (but) you never know what’s happened to them in a year. They’ll probably show up and be strong on the weekend.”

Group 10 take on Woodbridge Cup’s representative team at 10.30am, while Group 11 faces Castlereah-Barwon.

The final kicks off at 12.45pm.