Central West Premier League Hockey: Orange CYMS to play Bathurst City in round one

After the glory of last year, CYMS will go into their 2022 fixtures with a target on their back and coach Peter Shea is channeling a New Zealand All Blacks phrase to challenge his side.

"I think the All Blacks saying was, 'when you're at the top of the game you need to change your game', so we're probably not at the top of the game but we need to add things that'll make us a better side," he said.

"It's a completely different year and there's a change in the group and we need to go to a new level."

In their first round, CYMS will face Bathurst City, an opponent Shea believes will present a sense of unpredictability.

"Bathurst City are probably a bit of an unknown, I've heard a few whispers that they've got a better lineup this year.. they should be a quite a strong side," he said.

After the success of last season, the CYMS side will be a mix of familiarity and new faces with a player like Phoebe Litchfield noticeably moving on to forge out her cricket career.

"We have a nucleus of the same side this year, probably around about 50 per cent retention," Shea explained.

"A few have moved on and a few have gone on to play cricket at high levels, so it's given us an opportunity to bring a couple of other players in.

"Some players from our futures group are stepping up and having a bit of a run and just one or two coming from the outside which is always exciting."

One of those new players will be Dubbo's Emma Corcoran who has represented her state and Australian country throughout her career and Shea is excited to see what she'll bring.

"A couple of our players will make their Premier League debut like Heidi Zweirs and Arrabella Harvey while Emma Corcoran has joined us coming from Dubbo and Ellie's coming from Sydney - about four people are new to our scene," he said.

"Emma's not playing this weekend but she's going to be an amazing asset to our team and will give us leadership in the middle of the field.

"With people like Emma in the side and a couple of the young kids coming in they'll add to what we need to do and that'll be very exciting.

"Hopefully that improves some of the things we were lacking at times last year with that stability in the middle, (she's a) very exciting addition."