The Wanderers have huge expectations on their squad this season after signing three of the NWSL's best players, Lynn Williams, Denise O'Sullivan and Kristen Hamilton.

Meanwhile, Newcastle come into the season as the least-pressured club, with one of the youngest and least notable squads in the competition.

But that, says Davis, is exactly what gives the Jets and their very experienced gaffer Craig Deans a killer advantage.

“That’s something we’ve been working on in our four weeks of pre-season, playing as a team,” Davis said.

“Having some younger girls there, some local talent, no big-names or Americans, Deansy has definitely driven into us that we need to work hard and we need to work for each other.”

Newcastle have the walk to back up their talk though, after cooly holding star-studded Melbourne City - replete with former Jets legend-turned City star Emily van Egmond - to an unexpected draw last weekend.

“She’s a good player, she plays for her country and does well for the Matildas, so it’s obviously a challenge for us to play against someone like Emily and a lot of the other players in that team,” Davis said.

“It’s exciting to be up against a player like that, she scored a goal but other than that we held her a little bit. Libby [Copus-Brown] and Clare [Wheeler] did a good job against Emily.

“We’ll take the positives from the game against Melbourne City into the game against Western Sydney this weekend, but the way we play may change a little will depend on what Deansy and the coaching staff have seen of the Wanderers.

“Obviously they’ve made some really good signings, they’ve got three players from the NWSL champions (North Carolina Courage), Cortnee Vine who came from us last year, so we know a lot about what those players can do.

“It’ll be another tough game, but I think that each game we have will be as tough as the one before it and hopefully we can work towards getting three points.”

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