Lady Bluebirds will rest their Sylvia Easterly title on the line during Saturday’s season-opening knockout tournament at Bernard Park.The Pembroke club will enter the tournament as favourites having swept league and cup honours during the previous Senior Winter League campaign under coach Erika Russell.Lady Bluebirds goal defender and youth coach Tahkeesha Welchour is confident her team can build on last year’s success but admits their task won’t be easy.“Every game this season will present a challenge for us,” she said. “We are the defending champs and we expect that all teams will be preparing themselves to challenge for the title.“We are looking forward to this season and all the challenges that may present itself. This team has worked very hard over the years to become champions and will work even harder to remain champs. We are going in with our game faces and will fight to retain our titles.“We definitely feel the pressure not to disappoint our club, our netball fans and ourselves. However, this will just make us more competitive.”One of the teams that could pose a serious threat to Lady Bluebirds’ dominance are fierce rivals Data Tech Netts.“We know Netts are hungry to gain their title back but there will be no sleeping on the job on our part,” Welchour said. “We will approach every game the same at this point as all teams are a threat.“We know there have been a lot of players changes for teams, so we will take no team for granted.”Lady Bluebirds, who completed the previous Senior Winter League unbeaten in all competitions, have been bolstered by the return of Kewanna Swan. The mid -court player sat out the previous campaign through injury.“Our existing team is very strong and works well together,” Welchour added. “We have amazing chemistry and understand each others style of play that is one of the keys to our success.”Lady Bluebirds players have undergone intense training during the preseason to whip themselves into shape.“We have been working hard on fitness levels thanks to Garic Swainson and his Circuit Training called ‘Sweat’,” Welchour said. “In addition to that we started training to work on team strategy and technique a few weeks ago.”Lady Bluebirds will again be led on court by captain Karlandra Smith.