The Lakers will be looking to bounce back from an opening-game loss when they play the Northern Territory in Perth on Saturday.

Charter, a Rio Olympian, said the young squad had to change its reputation as being an under-strength hockey side.

"We need to break the mentality that we're a small state and that we don't get the same privileges as other teams," Charter said.

"Hopefully we can start to inspire the new guys in the group that we're not just here to fill in numbers, we can actually battle and challenge these big teams that are out here, who might perceive ACT to be an easy win."

The Lakers will have two opportunities to break that barrier when they play two games in less than 24 hours.

The first clash will be against the Northern Territory before backing up against Western Australia on Sunday afternoon.

The Lakers were held to a 1-1 draw in a trial match against the Northern Territory earlier this week.

"Our efficiency up front let us down and we weren't as clinical as we would have liked with our penalty corners but that's something we're working on," Charter said.

"The stats would say we were probably the better team in that game, so we've got good confidence heading into this match."

Canberra's women's team, the Strikers, will be hoping to put their round one loss behind them and get their AHL campaign back on track on Saturday.

Ashleigh Deacon and Laura Gray scored goals to get the Strikers off to a strong start, but they conceded four unanswered goals to lose to Western Australia 4-2.

The Lakers are still searching for their first goal of the AHL after losing to NSW 3-0 in round one of the pool stages.

AUSTRALIAN HOCKEY LEAGUE

Saturday: Canberra Lakers v Northern Territory Stingers at 7pm, Canberra Strikers v New Zealand at 9.30pm.

Sunday: Canberra Lakers v Western Australia Thundersticks at 10pm.