In the lead-up to the West Orange Motors Senior Competitions' top flight Life Studio club coach Mardi Aplin said the focus was mainly on development and a 25-goal loss to the OHS Hornets in round one suggested results might remain a lower priority all year.

Development is still a huge focus, but since then the young Sportspower side has caused a stir by winning two of their last three games, rocketing to fifth and making their presence felt in a big way.

"Coming up from division two we were focused on getting used to the level of games (so) we're really pleased with the way we've been going, we're super happy to be two from four," Life Studio Sportspower coach Sue Dean said.

They've not had a particularly easy start to 2019 either.

The Hornets are sitting second now and have proved they're a force to be reckoned with and Dean's side was beaten by undefeated competition leaders Life Studio (67-40) pretty convincingly last week.

They took down Life Studio Mid West Eyes and Orange City Epiroc in between those two games, winning 69-53 and 68-48 respectively.

Those two sides are sitting sixth and eighth respectively, some may argue that takes some gloss of the outfit's start to 2019. Putting it in perspective though, the promoted Hornets won two games across the entire 2018 season.

Dean's troops have another massive challenge on their hands in this weekend's fifth round though in last year's beaten grand finalists Orange Physiotherapy Vipers, a match-up that will reveal more in terms of their status in the top tier.

Vipers are coming off a 45-36 win over Mid West Eyes, a victory that snapped a two-week losing run.

"The biggest challenge will be coming up against the experienced teams who have been in division one for a long time, but that's the way they're going to learn," Dean said.

"[Vipers are a] really nice team to play, but I know we'll be trying to use our speed."

Dean didn't get the chance to take a look at Vipers' win last weekend, she was on court in the division two Jeep Cup at the time, but said a number of her young charges watched on to formulate a game plan.

Not that she revealed what that is, keeping her side's tactics under wraps.

As to what has spurred the young side's strong start, Dean put a lot of it down to the group's versatility. Largely made of junior representative players, Sportspower's group is adaptable positionally and that's a huge help.

Having the experience of Jasmin Hyatt has helped too, considering the side is predominantly made up of 14 and 15-year-olds.

"It's nice to have that little bit of experience, she's played in different associations and has a good variety," Dean said of Hyatt, who's starred in the defensive end.

I don't want to single out any one player, they've all gone really well for inexperienced players who are so young. For all of them it's great to see them learn and adapt as a group, even quarter-to-quarter.

"We're just so happy to be in division one. It's pretty unusual for a side this young to be playing division one and it's a great opportunity to play at the level.

"We'll go through the first (full) round (of the season) and reassess where we sit."

Life Studio Sportspower take on Vipers from 2.30pm at Sir Neville Howse Stadium on Saturday, with Life Studio playing Orange City Epiroc at the same time.

OHS opens the day against Orange City Craig Harvey Mechanical from 1.10pm with Mid West Eyes' clash against Hawks Royals rounding out the fifth round from 3.50pm.