Queensland's women are desperate to earn a second shot at the Waratahs women in this year's Super W final but hooker Averyl Mitchell knows they have to focus on their last hurdle this weekend.
The Queenslanders will host the Brumbies in the Super W playoff on Sunday at Ballymore, with the winner to take on the Waratahs at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday April 7.
Queensland went down to NSW 15-12 in their only match up in the regular season and also finished runner-up in an epic grand final last year.
Mitchell is in her first year of Super W but said even the new faces felt the desire for revenge against NSW, who have been their most fierce rivals in the two seasons of the competition.
"The players that have come through this year, they're carrying that and I didn't quite understand - you want to win every game you play, I don't think there's been anything be it a warm up drill or anything that I don't want to win - but you don't really realise how strong that drive is until we played them the first time and we want to win really badly," she said.
"Certainly we're really , really hungry for it and we're only taking things one game at at a time so we're certainly not thinking ahead, we're just worried about beating the Brumbies this weekend.
"Obviously that drive to come up against the Tahs and come away with the victory that's the deep motivation there."
The Brumbies tested Queensland in their last clash, a 12-0 victory for the northerners and Mitchell said they would need to be able to combat the ACT's physicality better this time around.
"A win's a win but we certainly like to tighten things up a little bit for this coming game," she said.
"Obviously they're really, really physical and really gave it to us. They've just come off a win in Perth, they've worked really hard to put together some good performances so we're certainly not taking it lightly, we'll be looking to improve on our performance two weeks ago."
The chance to play in Super W has been a dream come true for Mitchell, who also works for the QRU as a graphic designer, and said she still hadn't quite come to terms with the opportunity.
"When you first start playing, obviously everyone's different, but for me it was always about, it's the sort of thing that when it is really hard...when you close your eyes that's what you see.
You want to play the Reds and I've always lived in Queensland so I've always felt a really strong connection to them and just when I was getting into rugby we were doing really well as the reds as well and queensland was really getting behind them.
"So I was really enjoying being part of that culture and it's pretty special for me, it's a pretty huge deal and I'll try and pretend like I'm all laidback about it but really I'm so excited just to be here every day getting to train and everything, it's just the best."
Queensland hosts the Brumbies in the Super W playoff on Sunday March 31, kicking off at 2:30pm local, 3:30pm AEDT, LIVE on RUGBY.com.au and Kayo Sports.
