The Cowra Magpies under 18s received a glimpse of the level of competition they'll face in this year's newly formed competition when they came away from Wellington's Kennard Park with a 12 all draw with the Wellington Cowboys on Sunday.
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The Cowboys have long been one of the heavyweights of the Group 11 competition and made it to the semi finals last year before bowing out in week one.
In Sunday's encounter, which was played in four quarters, the Magpies went into the first break with a 6 nil lead before Wellington hit back in the second quarter to even up the scores at half time.
The Cowboys then took the lead in the third quarter before the Magpies hit back to level up going into the final break, both sides then remaining scoreless throughout the fourth quarter.
Coach Rory Brien was pleased with the effort from his young side.
"I think if they bring the same game that they did last week, to this weekend's match, they're certainly going to be in with a show, it was a really good defensive effort," Brien said of last weekend's result.
"I think we were a little bit hard done by with our numbers.
"We only had two on the bench and had a couple of injuries in the game so we finished the final quarter with none.
"We had to play our front rowers on the wing to give them a spell and relied on the Under 16s a bit. It was hard for them to play on Saturday and then put their hands up for Sunday.
"It'll be a different day on Sunday with a home game."
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In contrast Brien said the Wellington Cowboys had more than 20 players at their disposal.
"They looked a good side, had some really handy footballers, they certainly weren't slouches," he said.
As for Cowra's best Brien said he liked to look at the players player voting to see who the team believed contributed most.
"The votes were spread out, there wasn't anyone really singled out which was pleasing for me," he said.
Wellington Cowboys 12 (Jayden Hyde, Elijah Colliss try; Deakin Flick 2 goals) drew Cowra Magpies 12 (Ky Johnson, Nathan Steele try; Luke Kinsey 2 goals)
Orange Hawks 20 (Aiden Nunn, Angus Wilson, Jake Richie, Mitch Watts try; Ben Norris 2 goals) def Lithgow Workies 14 (Sam Lane, Zane Harrington, Cooper Nunan try; Cooper Egan goal)
Mudgee 18 (Cody Leydon, Kain Munro, Ryan Porter, Hunter McMurtrie try; Cody Lawson goal) def Canowindra Tigers 4 (Jacob Duncan try)
Orange CYMS 36 (O Keegan 2, K Dickson 2, Alex Brien, Ollie Hoskins, Cody Kelso try; Addison Williams 4 goals) def Bathurst Panthers 16 (C Hutchings, N Griffith, L Large try; Griffith goal)
Forbes Magpies 24 (H Scott, M Noakes, Sam Richards, Thomas Phillips try; Noakes 4 goals) def Dubbo CYMS 12 (Noah Ryan, Joe Yeo try; Ryan 2 goals)
Dubbo Macquarie 20 (K Rosenbaum 2, B Hamilton, S Knight try; N Walker, K Hill goal) drew Parkes Spacemen 20 (B Moran, J Gooloogong, H MacGregor C Crisp try; Z Eshman 2 goals)
