Maitland have lost most of their imports and bucketloads of experience, but the one thing Mustangs coach Luke Boyle is not prepared to lose is toughness.
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"You don't need a lot of skill to play defence, you need a lot of ticker," he said.
So while the revamped Mustangs will go into this weekend's start of the season with largely a bunch of kids stepping up, Boyle makes no secret of the fact he's still looking to win games.
"When Sharif Watson joined us he said the thing that made the Mustangs formidable was that we played tough 'd', we were hard nosed and he loved that about us," Boyle said.
"Well we might have a young side, but I see no reason for that to change."
Nonetheless it's a massive step up for the team which has seasoned campaigners like Watson and Terrell Turner, along with Josh Clifford, Sam Huggins and Jack Edwards to call on, and then a whole lot of inexperience.
They play last season's grand finalists Manly at Maitland on Saturday (7pm), a tough ask at the best of times. But throw in NBL guard Kev White from the Adelaide 36ers and the challenge gets that bit more confronting.
Add the fact a certain pandemic that's doing the rounds meant that Tyler Fry, Tay Wynyard and Dhiu Noi, all key off-season acquisitions, would be missing makes it downright daunting.
"We're going into the season expecting to win our share of games," Boyle said.
"We have to find a way to do that.
"The kids we've brought up - guys like Kaia Isaac, Riley Markovic and Connor Edwards -they're there for a reason. The challenge is to get them playing consistently with the same confidence at this higher level.
"We're looking for that energy, that youthful confidence they can bring to the team.
"They will be much better players next season for this opportunity, but that doesn't mean we've given up on this season. We're not looking for excuses. They'll have our more experienced guys around them "
Having said that he accepts Manly will be difficult.
"They're a grand finalist, they've always had a mix of good juniors and experience, add in White ... yeah, it will be tough, but like I said, no excuses."
A journo all my working life and never wanted to change, also a self confessed sports tragic.
A journo all my working life and never wanted to change, also a self confessed sports tragic.
