Steady improvement has been the calling card of the Souths Magpies so far in the SEQW Division 1 competition.
The Magpies have a jolt of confidence heading into their Round 7 clash with the West Brisbane Panthers thanks to a big win in their last start.
Their 48-16 win over Toowoomba in Round 6 was a result Souths have been working hard for in recent weeks according to coach Rob Brough.
"The best thing about it was that we improved on the week before," he said.
"I was just happy that we made some gains and moved forward on a few areas because our aim at the moment is to keep improving our skills and improving as individuals and as a unit.
"We've got a lot of new players at our club. We've got players that have played a variety of different sports from hockey to AFL to union and a few young girls who are only 17.
"The biggest learning curve for that group is understanding the game and getting their head around what we're trying to do with and without the ball."
That win over Toowoomba was their second win of the season and broke a four-game losing streak.
Brough said their tough start to the year could be a blessing in disguise as it helped his young team learn some lessons about playing in the top division.
"Early in the season we had been struggling for numbers in the sense of players being unavailable for a host of different reasons," he said. "So, we needed to show a fair bit of character in those earlier games and there is no doubt we did that.
"For me, it was about convincing them the character and courage we were showing in adversity would at some point be a strength."
It was a strength that has started to develop into results as they pushed Easts Tigers to the limit in Round 5 before their breakthrough win over Toowoomba.
That improvement will be put to the test again this Saturday when they travel to Kev McKell Oval to take on the West Brisbane Panthers from 1.30pm.
The Panthers picked up a comfortable win last time these sides met in Round 2 and with wins over Brothers Ipswich and Burleigh in their last two games they have established themselves as a real threat this year.
"They were a long way better than us on that day," Brough said of their previous encounter.
"They were stronger across the park and they had a couple of individuals that were a bit too good for us, but we've certainly strengthened a lot of areas of our football team and I'm expecting that we'll give a fair account of ourselves in this game."
>> Full fixtures, results and standings for SEQW competitions
