WHAT do you get when you take a competition heavyweight and inject a handful of young guns? You get a Collegians Mystified victory.
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On Saturday as Collegians posted a 45-26 win over Bulldogs Verdelho - the same side which beat them in last year's Bathurst Netball Association A grade grand final - there were plenty of familiar faces.
But Collegians also had three members of the Bathurst under 17s representative outfit in Samantha Hanrahan, Mimi Taylor and Hallie Wolfenden in action as well.
That under 17s side has been ultra impressive this season, having already made the grand final of the West Central West Regional League and won both the Orange and Bathurst carnivals.
The form that Hanrahan, Wolfenden and Taylor showed in Bathurst representative colours was continued in Collegians Mystified colours.
On top of that, fellow new recruit Emelia Kavanagh - who played at goal attack and goal shooter - shone for Collegians as well.
We've got a couple of new players in the team and it just seemed to gel nicely," Collegians centre Alarna Dawson said.
"We've got Emelia Kavanagh who's come here from Maitland, so it's her first season in Bathurst.
"We've also got Sam Hanrahan, who's been with Collegians but in our A res side and she's come up. Then we've got Mimi who was playing for Mana and she's in the under 17s rep side, her and Hallie play reps together, so they looked seamless at our goal ends."
The way the new players gelled with those who have returned from last season's grand final outfit helped Collegians take control of things early on against Bulldogs.
With Kavanagh at goal attack and Kaleah Mack at goal shooter, Collegians opened up a 13-3 buffer in the opening quarter.
It was a start that paved the way for victory.
The second quarter was more even as shooters Rachel Murray and Alysha Bright started to find the mark for Bulldogs, but Collegians still managed to force turnovers to ensure momentum did not swing the way of their rivals.
By half-time Collegians led 24-10, so for the third quarter it was decided to switch Hanrahan from wing defence to centre.
It was a job she handled well, intercepting a number of passes and helping to provide her shooters with quality ball.
But Bulldogs, as is the mark of a champion side, rallied to try and match their rivals.
While they were without a number of their experienced core in Kate Burns, Alisha Glasgow, Jess Matthews and Sarah Shackleton, those who were on court for Bulldogs lifted.
When shots missed Murray and Bright got up well for the rebounds, Murray at one stage colliding with the goal post as she worked to keep her side in the contest.
Goal keeper Brook McInnes made some top rebounds as well as Bulldogs produced their best quarter of the match. They were only outscored by one goal.
However, Collegians were still well in control at 33-18 at the final change and from there went on with the job.
In attack Mack landed some spectacular off-balance efforts, while in defence the combination of Taylor and Wolfenden restricted Bulldogs.
"I think both our goal ends were really humming, like our defence and our shooters were both on fire," Dawson said.
"If we did happen to miss a goal, then we'd be able to turn it around and send it back the other way, we were getting those turnovers. That was probably the difference today."
Though Dawson knows Bulldogs weren't at full strength for the match, that her side was also missing players and managed to led throughout was a good sign.
"They [Bulldogs] did have quite a few out and when they have all their players they'll be pretty strong, but we were missing three players today as well," Dawson said.
"So to do that, win like that when we're not at full strength, things are looking pretty exciting for the season."
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