There's something special brewing at the Greater Northern Raiders' women's side ahead of their Cricket Tasmania Premier League debut this month.
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After what co-coach Robert Stewart described as a "slow start", six weeks of pre-season training has delivered a "high energy" group of cricketers ready to represent their part of the state with pride.
"Realistically it was slow starting as there was a bit of apprehension, but Darren (co-coach Darren Simmonds) and myself have been absolutely rapt with the enthusiasm and the desire of this group,'' Stewart said.
This is a feeling that is in place despite experiencing what some may have seen as a disappointment of not securing the services of a Cricket Tasmania or Hobart Hurricanes contracted player for this summer.
Despite it being something that Cricket Tasmania's female program boss Salliann Briggs was keen to see, the likes of Belinda Vakarewa and Sam Bates have elected to play their cricket in Hobart this summer.
But while Stewart admitted "it would have been great for some of our younger players to have been able to rub shoulders with players at the highest level", it could turn out to be an advantage when it comes to building team spirit.
"Although in some ways it has diminished our ability the fact none of the high profile players have decided to play for us, it has ensured we are all local girls and I think that will help us,'' Stewart said.
"Some girls who thought they may not have got a chance are here, and we have ended up pretty much getting all the players we wanted."
Stewart and Simmonds' North-West Coast group is a strong one, with Hayley Marshall, Mel Scolyer, Madeline Clarke, Montana Bradley, April Brown, Sam Cotton, Holly Beaumont, Kate Chaplin, Joanne Ellis, Sascha Lowry, Bridie Smith and Esther Magor (who is studying in Hobart, but playing for the Raiders) all confirmed as signing on. Zoe Lowry will be available for the 40-over competition, but Tayla Wigg has elected to spend her summer at University.
"We will have a fairly level mix of talented players,'' Stewart said.
"We won't have the top first-class players, where other clubs will have one or two, but I think we will have depth more so than others. We will also have that desire to do well for the North and North-West, so I think we will be playing for a little bit more than others as we are playing for our region.
"Once we get through the first few weeks and see where we are at I think we will be really competitive and if we can do well with home grown talent, with other clubs having interstate players, then we can hold our heads up quite high."
The Raiders will hold their final training session on Sunday before an intraclub game at Youngtown the following weekend.
The Raiders start the season against Lindisfarne on October 20 at the NTCA Ground, followed by North Hobart at Latrobe on December 1, Kingborough in Devonport Oval on February 16 and University on March 1.
The men's team meets Clarence on Saturday, with the Raiders' season launch at Launceston's Country Club Tasmania on Wednesday.