The Melbourne Rebels hope their brutal start to the Super Rugby season has put them in good stead for their first derby clash against NSW on Friday night.
The Rebels are winless after taking on three New Zealand teams but hooker James Hanson hopes they have learnt some lessons from those games, particularly last round's tight loss to the defending champion Chiefs.
"Wer'e pretty excited; it's been challenging playing the first three games against Kiwi teams as they're setting the benchmark," said Hanson, who will reach the 100-game Super Rugby milestone with the match.
"We were obviously disappointed with the weekend's result, that we couldn't finish the job, but there's definitely a lot more belief.
"We felt like we had the ascendancy for the majority of the game and we will take that forward into the next few weeks."
The Waratahs have had their worst ever start to a season, only banking a round one win against Western Force.
The Rebels are planning to target the NSW set piece and breakdown and try to take advantage of their new-look backrow with Ned Hanigan replacing injured flanker Jack Dempsey.
"The set piece is going to be crucial," Hanson said.
"It's something we definitely improved last week and it's something that will challenge us against the Waratahs.
"The intensity around the breakdown, they've got guys who are great over the ball there like Michael Hooper but that's been a strength of ours in the last few weeks."
Hanson, who shifted from the Reds for the 2016 season, joked that Victorians hated NSW as much as Queenslanders so he wasn't alone in wanting to beat the Waratahs.
"Whether you're from Melbourne or from Queensland it's always one you get up for," the Test rake said.
"We're both under pressure and both in desperate need of a win and I think when two teams are desperate to win it's always going to be a good game of footy."
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