FOR three years Sam Ryan bled sky blue, yellow and black for CSU Bathurst.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Now, he wants to see them fail.
After three seasons as a student, playing colts in 2011 and first grade in 2012 and 2013, Ryan defected to Orange Emus at the beginning of 2014.
Since then he has starred at fullback in a resurgent Emus side, currently sitting third on the Blowes Clothing Cup ladder, which has recorded seven wins from 10 games - including a 51-12 demolition job on his former club in round two.
Emus host the students in Saturday’s return clash at Endeavour Oval and, with a little extra feeling surrounding the game, Ryan said he is expecting to be a marked man.
“I’m sure they’ll be out to get me,” he laughed.
“There’s plenty of feeling in these games. I’ve got plenty of love for CSU, but Emus have welcomed me with open arms and I’m really enjoying it.
“There’s quite a few Mitchell old boys here and I couldn’t bring myself to play for Orange City, so it became a reasonably easy choice.”
Sentimentality aside, Ryan said a more consistent performance, as a team and individually, will put Emus in good stead for a big run home.
“I’m playing ordinary at the moment,” he said.
“I feel like I’m letting the guys down a bit, we’ve got such a good backline that it makes me look a lot better.
“Hopefully I can get back to my best tomorrow, and if we execute a bit better as a team, and convert our opportunities, we should do well. You can never write CSU off though, they’re unpredictable.”
Greens’ coach Andrew Logan agreed, and said an evolved CSU side will provides Emus with a tricky proposition tomorrow.
“They’ll be up for it,” he said.
“Their defence has improved massively [since round two], and their attack has a lot more structure and direction. It’ll be tough.”
ORANGE EMUS: 1 Nas Havealeta, 2 Tom Goolagong, 3 Brent Braithwaite, 4 Nick Hughes-Clapp, 5 Sam McLean, 6 Andrew Cosgrove, 7 Scott Bouffler, 8 Rob Thorburn, 9 Chris Bailey, 10 TJ Cunynghame, 11 Tom Green, 12 Simon Badgery, 13 Nigel Staniforth, 14 Tim Alison, 15 Sam Ryan.