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The Western Force are trying to make the leap from competitive scrappers to genuine contenders as the Super Rugby Pacific season kicks off on Friday night.

The Force, coached by Simon Cron, launch their campaign at home against the Hurricanes, with 35 degree heat expected in Perth.

Force flanker Michael Wells spoke to Wide World of Sports about their recipe for success.

Watch the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season on the home of rugby, Stan Sport, kicking off on February 23. Every match ad free, live and on demand in 4K UHD

WWOS: The Force are in a unique position with all the extra travel demands from Perth. How do you guys try to cope with that?

Wells: It's easy to make excuses. It's much harder to be accountable and that's what we're going to be. I'm not going to use travel as an excuse. It doesn't matter. It's a performance based industry and there's no excuses.

WWOS: Tell us about the club's new leadership group this season. How is that functioning?

Wells: Nic White obviously comes in with a wealth of experience and Jeremy Williams is in the leadership group as well. In terms of longevity, Whitey and I are on the wrong side of 30.

Jeremy is younger and the future of the club. We need him to back up again and provide a voice, particularly with a younger group. You see it in the business world as well - there is a generational divide between people in their 30s and 20s in terms of what they want out of a professional rugby career and what they're motivated by.

You can't just have the same older people trying to run the show the whole time and do it their way. You've got to embrace a new age.

WWOS: What is Nic White specifically bringing? I imagine plenty of energy as well as that experience?

Wells: Well, unfortunately for Whitey he's bringing half a bicep after his surgery. But no, his voice has been great and I think you can get carried away with everyone needing to be positive all the time.

But that neglects the improvements that need to be made. If you have to sugar coat your feedback, you can sometimes miss the message itself. And so Whitey is really good in terms of constructive, to the point messaging and it happens in real time.

He's been really good, particularly for our decision makers in the backs. Why aren't they demanding the ball? Are they looking at the right pictures? What are they seeing? Giving them a holistic approach so they can make real time decisions that benefit us.

Simon Cron addresses the Force at HBF Park.

WWOS: Your coach is now in his second season and has earned a contract extension. It sounds like he has now created a true high performance environment?

Wells: He's always after constant improvement and anything short of winning the competition - even if we won the final, he'd probably say that we'd need to improve. That's the great thing about him.

Everything about a professional environment should be about constantly improving because the second you remain stagnant, you stand still, someone else is overtaking it.

He comes in with that drive every day but is really good at narrowing focus for what the individuals are working day to day on - what's the critical few areas for them? What can they get better at straight away and what's integral for them to perform, to provide to the team?

WWOS: What does a successful season look like from your perspective?

Wells: Winning. I think that's universally the easiest way to measure success. You win games, you lose games and there's an easy way to look at that. It's a scoreboard and then the way we get that is we look at our processes, we look at how do we do things.

You don't look at the results in isolation, you look at how that result was achieved. And if you get your processes nailed, the result handles itself.

Santiago Medrano, Tom Robertson and Toni Pulu of the Force celebrate winning.

WWOS: What did you guys identify in the offseason as the biggest areas for growth?

Wells: Our home form was great, our away form was terrible. We didn't win an away game and we're not making excuses around travelling from the west coast of Australia.

It's difficult but at the end of the day, you step onto a field that is the same as every other field. It's just embracing the challenge. We know that no-one thinks too much of the Force outside of WA anyway. It's embracing that chip on your shoulder.

WWOS: Who are the new faces to look out for?

Wells: Ben Donaldson, Nic White, Tom Franklin. Those guys provide steady heads, but also have their hands on the ball and they're in decision making positions that are really important to our game.

In terms of young guys, I think out on the wing, Ronan Leahy had a really great under-20s season. He's been great for us during preseason. Everyone loves seeing tries scored, he's a try scorer, he's a finisher and so seeing him should be pretty exciting.

Will Skelton of Australia embraces Ben Donaldson of Australia at fulltime.

WWOS: You mentioned Ben Donaldson who had a pretty hectic Rugby World Cup. How has he settled in after moving from NSW?

Wells: Donno's been great in terms of the steady head he provides. The experience he had at the World Cup was obviously great in terms of playing 10, you get your hands on the ball, you know how you want to run things. It gave him the experience that he can demand more from people around him because he knows that makes him better. It's also driving that standard collectively and not being shy of telling people exactly what he needs and what he wants.

WWOS: He was able to do that straight away? It must be a process when you're a new guy at a new club to start barking orders...

Wells: It is part of being a 10, isn't it? You do feel like you've got to earn your stripes, earn respect before you find your voice. Donno's found a really good balance between talking but also just putting his performances out of the field. He's been great for us in the trials.

He's put a good body of work in during the preseason and he's got the confidence of the playing group.

WWOS: Last one, Harry Potter is also new to the club. He's only 26 but is already vastly experienced...

Wells: Yes and he's won a premiership, being at Leicester. He's someone who doesn't shy away from having hard conversations with people. He's got a great eye for improvement and being quite critical of things to get better performances, better results. He's brought that eye for detail, demanding better standards, but also getting great clarity. He's not just a problems guy, he brings the solutions to the problems, which is really helpful.

ROUND ONE FIXTURE

FORCE vs HURRICANES: Perth's HBF Park, Friday 10pm AEDT

FORCE (15-1): Max Burey, Harry Potter, Sam Spink, Hamish Stewart, Chase Tiatia, Ben Donaldson, Nic White (co-c), Will Harris, Carlo Tizzano, Michael Wells (co-c), Izack Rodda, Tom Franklin, Santiago Medrano, Tom Horton, Marley Pearce

Reserves: Ben Funnell, Charlie Hancock, Tiaan Tauakipulu, Lopeti Faifua, Tim Anstee, Ollie Callan, Issak Fines-Leleiwasa, George Poolman

HURRICANES (15-1): Ruben Love, Josh Moorby, Billy Proctor, Jordie Barrett (co-c), Kini Naholo, Brett Cameron, Jordi Viljoen, Peter Lakai, Du'Plessis Kirifi, Devan Flanders, Isaia Walker-Leawere, Caleb Delany, Pasilio Tosi, Asafo Aumua (co-c), Xavier Numia

Reserves: James O'Reilly, Pouri Rakete-Stones, Tyrel Lomax, Justin Sangster, Brayden Iose, Cam Roigard, Riley Higgins, Salesi Rayasi

Referee: Damon Murphy

FORCE 2024 SQUAD

Hookers: Tom Horton, Feleti Kaitu'u

Props: Siosifa Amone, Charlie Hancock, Harry Hoopert, Santiago Medrano, Atu Moli, Angus Wagner

Locks: Lopeti Faifua, Felix Kalapu, Izack Rodda, Jeremy Williams (c)

Loose forwards: Tim Anstee, Ollie Callan, Will Harris, Jackson Pugh, Paillon Sevele, Carlo Tizzano, Michael Wells

Halfbacks: Issak Fines-Leleiwasa, Ian Prior, Henry Robertson, Nic White

Five-eighths: Max Burey, Ben Donaldson, Reesjan Pasitoa

Centres: Ollie Cummins, Nikolai Foliaki, Bayley Kuenzle, Henry O'Donnell, Sam Spink, Hamish Stewart

Outside backs: George Poolman, Harry Potter, Chase Tiatia