Dubbo CYMS went into the weekend at the bottom of the Western Youth League's northern pool but coach Bret Fisher wasn't too worried.
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Fisher knew the talent in his side is as good as any in the competition while he had seen his side making small improvements week after week.
And on Sunday the young Fishies took another big step forward when scoring a commanding 36-6 win at Mudgee.
Fullback Noah Ryan starred, scoring a hat-trick and proving a constant threat throughout, while Fisher's other key men all stood up as CYMS moved within three points of top spot.
"I look to Noah a lot," Fisher said.
"He's a key position at fullback and obviously we've got a young side so I look to him and Joe Yeo as the senior guys and also Fletcher Haycock and Braye Porter even though they played 16s last year.
"I pulled them aside before the game and told them our game would revolve around them and said if they go going forward the others would follow and they did."
Will Malloy scored a double in the win while Zac Williams and Yeo also crossed while Porter booted four conversions.
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And while the win appears a comfortable one on paper Fisher said it was anything but as a couple more injuries and a spirited Mudgee side forced CYMS to work from the first whistle to last.
"We completed a whole lot better and the defence was magnificent," Fisher said.
"Mudgee never went away and they're a tough side ... but our completions was the thing."
Having players on the bench also helped after Fisher had no replacements to call on during the derby loss to Macquarie a week prior.
The side was a little slow to start again on Sunday but once things clicked into gear the side got a roll on.
That's much like the Youth League competition as a whole for CYMS, with the side appearing like it will be playing its best football at the right time of the season.
"There's a lot of new faces. There's the two boys from Nyngan and a few under 16s so it's youthful and even though a lot played under 16s together last season this is different," Fisher said.
"Some of the others are two years older than them and in the under 18s it's a faster game and there's not a lot between it and first grade.
"It's a big step up but every week we're getting better and we're building."
CYMS now sits one point behind Macquarie after the Raiders were beaten by the Wellington Cowboys in a tight contest at Apex Oval on Sunday.
The Cowboys sit two points clear at the top and will do battle with CYMS next weekend.
"Anyone in our pool can win on a given day," Fisher said.
"We've still got to learn to build pressure. Every time we got the ball on Sunday we tried to score and made a couple of fundamental errors.
"If we score one we can bide our time and build pressure. You can be happy to win by two or four and you don't need to win by 30 every week."