That’s all Jess Skinner says she would have needed with this year’s Western league tag side to progress past the first round, but a heart-breaking 24-18 loss to Illawarra South Coast Dragons on Saturday has relegated the Rams to a winless campaign in 2018.

Western led 12-10 at the break thanks to tries to Cargo star Heidi Regan and Blayney flier Sophie Stammers but back-to-back four points raced the Dragons to an eight point lead mid-way through the second stanza.

Regan sliced through the Illawarra defence with nine minutes remaining to score her second, Bec Ford’s third conversion of the match lifting the Rams girls to within striking distance of their opposition at 20-18.

But a late four-pointer secured the Dragons the win, and progression to the second week of the league tag championship, too.

“It was close and we had the momentum early but we gave away some silly penalties and missed some critical tags which let them finish the second half off,” Skinner said.

“We’re gutted. We definitely had the team to beat them.”

Skinner said her side was buoyed by its opening 25 minutes as Western went toe-to-toe with arguably the best league tag outfit in Country Rugby League.

“We came off bouncing and in the zone but some crucial misses hurt,” she said of her side’s second half.

“I feel like if we had another week together to fine tune our defence we’d be talking about a different result.”

Still, there was a lot to like from Western.

Skinner praised the likes of Hawks half Bec Ford and Bathurst St Pat’s gun Meredith Jones, who was made skipper for the day.

Both were fantastic and the blue print to pick speed across the park proved to be a masterstroke, while the Group 11 brigade of Maddison Chapman, Tyuanna Goolagong and India Draper proved up to the task.

“That exposure for the likes of Maddie, Tyuanna and Indy, it was good to see them at that level. Illawarra is the benchmark and they held their own,” Skinner enthused.