Brad Aldous describes a somewhat new-look Wests squad "refreshing" as they strive for a fifth straight Tom Locker Cup final appearance.
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The Rosellas captain is one of several familiar faces alongside Aaron Bills and Andrew Shakespeare, but now next to a younger playing crop in 2023-2024.
Joseph Price and Josh Emerton were both part of the XI in Saturday's season opener, however, in combination with former skipper James King, mixed availability means the experienced trio could virtually count as one entity throughout this campaign.
Throw in the departure of Aaron Wivell to defending Newcastle District Cricket Association premiers Wallsend and UK returns of both Rob Lankester and Niall Alexander, the boys from Harker Oval line up a little differently this summer.
Aldous was pleased to get over the line against University ahead of key tests with City and Cardiff-Boolaroo.
"It's a nice group of kids who are all good mates. It's a little bit refreshing," Aldous said.
"Especially starting off with a win, they would have learned a lot. There was a couple of times during the game we were on top and a couple of times during the game they were on top. Just learning that you can win from anywhere, that's the culture we need to bring into this team."
"It will test what we're made of the next two weeks because both of those teams will be pushing for the top four."
Wests have experienced a good run in the one-day format - playing in five of the last six deciders and winning three outright (2017-2018, 2020-2021, 2021-2022). Last year's showdown with Stockton got washed out and joint premiers declared. They lost to Hamwicks in 2019-2020.
"It's a nice record to have but you'd swap it for the two-day [premiership]. It's a bit of silverware, which is what you play for, but you want points for the back end," Aldous said.
The Rosellas have four of their opening five fixtures scheduled at home.
"We're going to have a lot of two-dayers away so we need to cash in early and win these home games. Build a bit of confidence for the young guys and carry that moving forward," Aldous said.
In relation to Price, Emerton and King.
"James [King] is playing this weekend but Joe [Price] isn't. Emo [Emerton] is playing this week but it might be one of his last. Between the three of them hopefully someone is around [each match]. We're sort of trying to make it so the core isn't around them," Aldous said.
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