Co-captain Isabella Nasser is excited to get back on the park for the Aussie Women's Sevens, as the side looks to go for a six-peat in Dubai this weekend.
The Tim Walsh-coached side comes into the series opener with arguably one of the strongest sides the program has ever assembled, with key stars returning from injury in Madison Ashby and Kaitlin Shave.
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They will combine with the talented new class of players from last year, with Nasser pointing out the likes of Amahli Hala as a player to watch.
“It's really cool to have those girls in, combined with the experience that the younger girls had last season,” Nasser said to Rugby.com.au.
The Australians have turned Dubai into a happy hunting ground, though Nasser believes the competition has been the bigger driver than the pressure to extend the winning streak.
“We go into every tournament process based, we go to every tournament to win,” the co-captain added.
“We hold ourselves at a really high standard. There's always a process with Walshy [head coach Tim Walsh], everyone gets out straight away and are like, 'Alright, let's just focus on our game.'
“We love Dubai, we love the heat, we love how fast the games are. If I'm completely honest, we haven't really mentioned it too much about the six-peat.
“Our culture is really good in that we not only support each other, but also compete and push each other to be better, which ultimately will make our team better.”
For Nasser, while the new look of the schedule comes with new hurdles, she welcomed the opportunity to have Madison Ashby as co-captain for the upcoming season.
Ashby will play her first world series tournament in over 12 months following an ACL injury.
“Madi Ashby was the captain in Singapore when she unfortunately did her injury, so I was obviously very honoured to take over post the Paris Olympics,” Nasser said.
“I always had hope that she would be appointed co-captain one day alongside me, so I feel really proud to have her by my side, captaining this amazing team.
“She's [been] in the leadership group, so it's very easy to lean on her and go to her for advice, as well as Charlotte [Caslick] and Demi [Hayes], as well. I'm surrounded by lots of incredible leaders."
In addition to the new format, which will see a three-leg finals series, World Rugby also confirmed the USA leg of the tournament will head to New York for the first time in its history.
“It's on my bucket list, so it's pretty incredible that we're able to travel there for work and play a tournament in New York," Nasser said.
“You've got to be on your game for the whole three World Championships. If you bail out on one of them, you've got an opportunity to come back, but in the environment that the Sevens is in and the competitiveness of all the teams, it's pretty hard to switch off and then try and fight back in there.
“We'll see how we go.”
