They're only one game into their maiden seasons at City but even Tom Fenton and Keiran Bonin can feel the magnitude of the task ahead of them.
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On Saturday, the second-row duo will lace up for a local derby against Emus as the Lions look to register their first win in what's an abbreviated Blowes Clothing Cup campaign.
With an 11-8 home loss to Kangaroos in their wake, Fenton's already pulling out the big guns, describing the round three tilt as a must win clash for his squad.
"We're expecting to get better and we really need to considering it's a short season," Fenton said.
"The hype for this game is big and everyone's looking forward to it."
City's round one loss to Kangaroos can only be described as a valiant one after the side scratched and clawed against one of the better teams in the competition before falling by just three points but Fenton knows there's plenty of work to be done in the lead-up to Saturday, starting with the team's ball handling.
"Our structures are built on speed and width and the weather last weekend didn't allow us to really play to those strengths," he said.
"We don't have the biggest pack but we're all very skillful and quick so hopefully we can use that to our advantage."
Just like the 28-year-old Fenton, Kieran Bonin's most recently played his rugby at Sydney and made his Central West debut in the opener against Kangaroos.
"They [Dubbo] were pretty good," Bonin said.
"For me, it was adapting to the pace... the Sydney comp's a lot faster and it's a more country style of rugby out here."
While Fenton's focus for this round was surrounding expansive footy, Bonin wants his men to focus on momentum
"We were on the back foot a lot," Bonin said.
"We want to make sure we're going past the advantage line and playing footy on the front footy, we didn't do that enough against Dubbo and if we did we could have won.
"We were very slow to make metres."
The Dubbo game was big but it doesn't compare to the clash that's looming for the City boys and Bonin's caught a glimpse of that at Pride Park during the week.
"There's a lot more hype surrounding this one," he said.
"Everyone's making sure they get work off for this one. The whole vibe around the club is strong."
City and Emus will do battle in a blockbuster at Endeavour Oval on Saturday afternoon. Kick-off is 3.15pm.