The Hastings League season is set to get underway this weekend with the South West Rocks Marlins gearing up to take on defending premiers Laurieton Hotel Stingrays.
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The Marlins will have their work cut out for them on Saturday with the Stingrays looking to claim back-to-back premierships after winning the Hastings League grand final last year.
South West Rocks Marlins Club president Geoff Ball is confident the team can produce a good performance this weekend.
"It will be a tough game but the players are looking forward to it... they're feeling prepared," he said.
The team is coming off a 32-4 loss to Taree City Bulls in a pre-season trial game.
Ball said the club hasn't looked too much into the pre-season loss where the team was plagued with fatigue after a few players competed in the East Coast Tribal League finals earlier that day.
"They were able to get their legs running in that game which was the goal, and now the team is fit and ready to put on a show this Saturday," he said.
"The good news is that we kept a lot of the young players from last season, so we can continue to build on the momentum that we were picking up late last year."
Ball said this year's plan is to keep building, to stick to their game plan, and play their own brand of footy.
"We have to maintain our ball control, defence and discipline," he said. "If we do that then we can't go wrong this year.
Ball said the club is excited to get their 2023 campaign underway.
"This year is about celebrating our 10-year anniversary and building the club to make sure it survives the next 10 years."
The game will kick off at Laurieton Oval on Saturday, April 15 from 2pm.
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