Peter McDonald Premiership: Hat-trick hero, Joey Lasagavibau, says 'defence will be the key' ahead of Orange CYMS vs Orange Hawks derby

The experienced five-eight was too fast, too strong and too good for Cowra, running through the defence for a hat-trick as CYMS scored a 44-26 victory.

With captain-coach Daniel Mortimer out, 'Joey', as he's known, knew he had to take his game to another level and left no stone unturned.

"Because he was out I thought I had to step up a bit and take on the game," he said.

With CYMS undefeated, including two wins on the road, Lasagavibau believes confidence is high, however there's still improvement needed after conceding 22 points in the second half last weekend.

"We're feeling good, we have a few new players to first grade because we lost some from last year, every week we're building. Hopefully we should put on a good show (this weekend) because these past few weeks we've been playing good but there's still things to fix - our defence hasn't been working," he said.

And according to the five-eight, that defence will be the crucial component coming into Sunday's derby against Orange Hawks.

"Defence will be the key because both sides are three from three," he said.

"In the big derby, form doesn't count, so on Sunday defence is key because everybody turns up on derby day.

"It's always a different vibe at training because it's a derby but for us we just have to take it as another match, don't let the emotion of it take over for the game."

With Mortimer out, Lasagavibau has also been adjusting to a new halves partner in Pat Williams who he said is continuing to improve.

"Pat's been really good, he's been learning a lot from Mort and been listening a lot to what Mort has been trying to install in him - he's progressing well every week."

Sunday's first match will be league tag with kick off at 11.

Under 18s follow at 12:15 with reserves at 1:30.

First grade kicks off at 2:45.