ST Pat’s march towards the Group 10 premier league finals may very well continue today as the blue and whites face a struggling Oberon Tigers.

Pat’s travel to take on the Tigers in a game that features two teams having very different experiences this season.

While the Bathurst side are thinking of a premier league finals campaign, Oberon are trying their hardest to get off the bottom of the competition table.

Still, Pat’s coach Kurt Hancock said that Oberon’s lowly ladder position counts for little when it comes to today’s match.

“They did have CYMS 12-0 down after 20 minutes last week. We’ll try to take the positives out of last week and keep rolling on with it,” he said.

“It’s a game that we should be winning, but I cast their minds back to that Lithgow game at training saying that you’ve got to make sure that you turn up. We’re prepared for Oberon to come out hard, so we’ve got to be prepared to weather that storm.

“They’re still a really strong team across the park, they just got a few injuries at the start of the year. We probably can expect one of their best performances of the year on the weekend with the reunion on there on all the old boys watching on.”

Corey Averio, Chris Boardman and Luke Single are all missing from the Pat’s line up today due to injury.

Hancock has said in the past that the team have managed a lucky streak when it came to keeping players fully fit, but now that might have run its course.

But Hancock still has the benefit of the club’s younger players gaining starts.

“At this stage the draw has suited us for what I wanted to try and do. I’ve used 30-odd players so far this season,” he said.

“For two weeks running now we’ve lost players through injury and I think that’s brought us back to where teams would expect to be at this time of year.

“Now having used those younger players already at some time this season, they’ll know what to expect when I need them. They’ve already got that bit of experience.”

While the place in the finals is virtually secured for Pat’s, two more wins are needed from their remaining five games to make it official.

But should they win today while cross-city rivals Bathurst Panthers fail to do so tomorrow, then that place could be wrapped up by Sunday evening. 

Today’s game begins at 1.15pm at Oberon Sports Ground.

ST PATS: 1 Ben Hews, 2 Mick Armstrong, 3 Cyp Ale, 4 Dave Howard, 5 Jake Bright, 6 Garry Reilly, 7 Antonio Ale, 8 Ben Thompson, 9 Benjamin John, 10 Brent Dennis, 11 Jacob Bell, 12 Paleatime Ale, 13 Cameron Neville, 14 Campbell Scott, 15 Jon Hanscomb, 16 Luke Newsome, 17 Kurt Hancock.