The Abby Griffiths and Sean Hofman-coached side will hit the water at Dubbo on Monday afternoon for what will be a baptism of fire.

“We’ve got a few hard teams to play on the first day,” Griffiths said.

Nominating for Division A they’ve drawn Sydney Uni (Gold), SNB Breakers (Blue) and UNSW Wests (Black).

“They’re all really excited and keen to get in there,” Griffiths said.

“For a couple of the girls it is their first carnival.”

She and Hofman are optimistic they can better, or at least match, their top eight finish last year and have been encouraged by the improvement they have shown since the Country Clubs carnival last month.

“Their progression has been amazing,” Griffiths said.

“We’ve just been working on the things that we didn’t do so well down there (Nowra).”

One of things they have really been focusing on is working on the ball side.

“That’s where they were getting the steals,” she said.

“There’s been a massive improvement from them.”

As well as playing in the Monday night women’s competition, they’ve also had a few games against the 14s boys and as Griffiths put it “been enjoying sticking it to the boys”.

Coming up against teams that play regularly together she said one of the keys will be working well as a team, although that is probably one of their strengths.

“They all have a really good bond,” she said.

The boys also begin their campaign in Orange on Monday. The Tim Smith-coached side are contesting Division B and have SNB Breakers White in their opening game.