The son of Macquarie Raider's club legend Brett Warwick, Aston was expected to have a big opening to his start with the Western Rams under 18s side, but was side-lined by a broken collarbone suffered late last year while playing for South Dubbo in the junior grand final.

He'll finally make his return this weekend when the Rams take on Penrith.

"I was at home watching it and it was pretty hard to watch, but I thought the boys played really well with their defence and hopefully I can help them out and fix those little mistakes they made on the attack," Warwick said.

"They've all been through it now and I know they'll all be trying just as hard as me."

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That evaluation was also the view of coach Kurt Hancock, who called on his side to back themselves both individually and as a team after the defeat.

"We started well, but I think there had to have been 13 times where we dropped the ball, the message I gave them is that I want them to put as much effort and attention to detail that I've seen them put in at training," Hancock said.

"The catch and the pass, the ball carrying, we need to completely avoid penalties during the play the ball and things like that."

The mistakes and penalties piled up in the 26 - 12 defeat, but the Rams were still able to largely hold the Monaro Colts off until the game's last quarter, where two penalty goals proved fatal.

"We just couldn't build pressure when we had the footy, I've been with these guys for four years now and that's probably the worst performance I've seen," Hancock said.

"It's only the second game they've lost and they're bound to have days like that, but we need to improve in those little things massively to make sure we're competitive in this competition."

One issue the Rams will have to address sooner rather than later is the team's malleable line-up, with a number of 17 and 18 year olds jostling for spots at the moment.

"We're going to have to nut out that final squad, after this weekend I'll have had a look at everyone I've wanted to have a look at, then we'll decide," Hancock said.

One of the players rotated in will be Warwick, who'll be replacing Parkes product Cody Crisp in the second row.

"Cody's been playing well there, but he predominantly plays centre for his club, he doesn't quite have the same experience that Aston has in that role," Hancock said.

"I wanted to look after Aston a bit, he wasn't planned to come into the squad until later, but he's a quality footballer and he's starting to grow right now, he's got plenty of ability and aggression, he slotted in really well and a had a great showing at training the other night."

While Warwick had hoped to have a fuller physio schedule before making his return, the benefit of two good trial games and the want to play again has him feeling more ready than ever before.

"I felt really good in both of them, I actually feel stronger than I was now," Warwick said.

"I'm really excited, I can't wait, it's been a while now and I'm ready to rip in again."

The Western Rams meet the Penrith Panthers in the Laurie Daley Cup from 4.45pm in Mudgee at Glen Willow Oval and in the Andrew Johns Cup at 3.35pm, both on Saturday, February 29.