Sydney Rays winger Harry Jones believes his side can rise from 2015 cellar dwellers to 2016 NRC premiers, but added the Northern Sydney side aren’t getting too far ahead of themselves.

After winning just two matches in 2014 and 2015, the Rays have lost just once in 2016 and host Perth Spirit on Sunday with a spot in the NRC decider on the line.

“At the beginning of the season, no one really gave the Rays a second look but our coaching staff and the boys in the leadership group have had a really positive impact and everyone has really gelled,” Jones told Rugby News.

The Rays beat the Spirit 28-8 when the two sides met back in round two, but Jones said it was difficult to look too much into that result.

“We played them in the wet on a Friday night earlier this year and it was a really tough match, they shocked us a bit. Hopefully it will be a bit drier at Pittwater on Sunday and if we can play like we’ve been playing for the last few weeks, we should go well.

“We’ve had a playoff mentality for the last three weeks and have been trying to focus on each week rather than looking ahead to the finals. We were focused on beating Melbourne and we did that, now our focus is on Perth, we’re not thinking about the grand final, we just need to get through this week and see what happens from there.”

Jones admitted the Rays have benefited from Northern Suburbs’ drought breaking Shute Shield premiership win earlier this year and said that Rays and Norths coach Simon Cron had instilled a winning mentality in the squad.

Cron and the Norths’ players at the Rays won 16 straight matches across the two competitions, before narrowly losing to NSW Country in round four.

“The Norths guys had a strong structure established at the get go so the rest of us needed to adapt to that and I think we’ve responded really well. Crono goes into a lot of detail in terms of structure and style of play so once we got all that knowledge down, it’s just been repetition and it has gone really well.

“It’s a great bunch of blokes. There’s a good mix of youth and experience, a few Super Rugby players and a few others playing their first year in the NRC and they are thriving in it.”

After scoring 16 tries for Warringah and finishing the Shute Shield season as the leading try scorer, Jones was promoted from a supplementary contract at the Waratahs and will train in the extended playing squad in 2017.

He’ll be one of the youngest players in the full time training squad next season.

“After last year’s preseason, I can’t say everyone is excited about it but that is part of the job and I can’t wait to rip in in November and hopefully try and push for a bit of game time next year. I’m not going to get my hopes up, but if it comes my way, I’ll be ready.

“I just need to listen to the coaches and step up a bit at training. There is great quality in the outside backs and great quality right around the park so as one of the youngest guys in the group, I just need to be a sponge and try and learn off the coaches and players around me and try to get better every day.”

Still just 20, Jones said he was happy to spend more time in the Shute Shield over the next few years as he continues his rugby development.

“I think with the new coaches at Warringah (Darren Coleman and Damien Cummins), it’ll be a more professional set up and with that core group of players, the 10 or 12 guys that have been there for six plus years, it’s going to be really good. We could have a few new players and I think we can go really close to winning it.”

After watching Norths break their 41-year premiership drought, the Newport Breakers junior admitted there is no shortage of motivation to bring a first grade title back to Rat Park for the first time since 2005.

“That’s the dream. Besides debuting for the Waratahs and pushing for further honors, that would be the absolute dream,” he said.

“When I chose to stay at Warringah, in the back of my mind I asked if we’d every have the strength to win a premiership and now, three years on, I genuinely believe we have the playing group and the coaches to do it.”