The Fishies started in perfect fashion on the weekend, downing Orange CYMS 20-16 in a pre-season trial match at Barden Park.

It's one of few opportunities CYMS will get against Group 10 sides this year as league tag wasn't included alongside first grade and under 18s in the inaugural western-wide Peter McDonald Premiership structure.

Instead, the league tag and reserve grade competitions will remain in their original Group 11 boundaries.

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CYMS coach Nicholas Wilson was frustrated by that choice, but said his team is still planning on getting as much footy as it can this season.

"We don't only want to compete in Group 11. At the end of the year we want to be able to win Group 11 and compete against Group 10 teams," Wilson said.

"We're going to play as many trials as we can against Group 10 teams. It will help improve us and help take our game to a new level."

Dubbo CYMS is drawn to play Orange Hawks and Cowra away and Bathurst St Pat's and Mudgee at home in its four Peter McDonald Premiership crossover matches this season.

Hawks are already locked in to play a league tag trial as well as the under 18s and first grade games in round one and Wilson is hopeful it will be the same case for the other three clubs.

"I personally don't understand why they didn't included league tag in it," Wilson said of the new competition.

"I think it was a bit of a stupid decision. If you're going to take first grade and under 18s across then you might as well take league tag.

"But we want to show, as a club, we're more than willing to travel and go to Group 10.

"There's a really big emphasis on that from our behalf. These girls want to play against other teams and want to play against the best. Group 10 has a really high standard so it would be nice to go across and compete against those sides."

CYMS was unbeaten at the top of the Group 11 league tag ladder last season when the competition was cancelled due to the threat of COVID with one round remaining.

The early indications on Saturday point to them being a force again, even if it was a sometimes patchy performance at Barden Park.

It's been a tough pre-season for the tag side, as they spent most of it alongside the men as the club trained as one.

Teams have split up in recent weeks and worked on their specific plans but Wilson said the hard work in the summer months bodes well for the season ahead.

"We've upped the ante a fair bit and trained a lot with the boys as a club," he said.

"There's been a big focus on fitness. That's how we want to play our footy this season. We want fast, upbeat footy so there's been a big emphasis on fitness and the girls have bought into it, so it's been good."

Maddi Chapman is one of the players who has really committed to the pre-season campaign and Wilson praised her performance in the win over Orange CYMS, while Sophie Whiteman's work out of dummyhalf was also sharp.

Whiteman is one of a number of younger players in the CYMS side, while a group of graduating under 17s tag players are also set to get a taste of senior tag throughout this season given a handful of spots in the CYMS team have opened up after some departures to local rivals Macquarie during the off-season.

"We lost a few to Macquarie but we've got a lot of young ones and that's what we want to promote," Wilson said.

"It's great having players like Alahna Ryan come back, she's going to play union and league tag this year. Em Caton has come back from Macquarie and we kept a few of the core players like Demi Wilson, Grace Pilon and Madi Crowe.

"There's the potential there to be a really, really good league tag side. It's up to them though, whether they want to just go through the motions or be a really exceptional league tag side."

CYMS will meet Hawks in a trial match on Sunday, April 10 while the Group 11 league tag season proper doesn't begin until May 1.

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