RUGBY LEAGUE
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WITH his side sitting eighth with just one win so far in the 2015 Group 10 premier league season, Orange Hawks captain-coach Brock McGarity resisted the urge to smash his troops at training leading into Sunday’s clash with Bathurst St Pat’s.
Instead, McGarity and co-coach Jared Brodrick did their best to take their charges’ minds off football altogether.
“On Tuesday we had a bit of a games night I guess you’d call it,” McGarity said.
“We just wanted to get the boys’ minds off footy a bit, refresh everyone and get them enjoying themselves at training.
“It was good fun actually, then we ran through some simple stuff on Thursday. Everyone is really positive, and all the boys are keen to get stuck in.”
The two blues are coming off an 18-point loss to the undefeated Lithgow Workies last week.
Like in previous games, McGarity’s side showed glimpses of its best, albeit sporadically.
VIDEO: Matt Findlay and Nick McGrath preview this weekend's footy:
“We’ve been getting better and better each week in our sets,” McGarity said.
“That was one thing we worked on on Thursday, making sure we get to the end of our sets.”
With a casualty ward not dissimilar to a Kings Cross emergency room, McGarity and Brodrick have once again named a side with several players in unfamiliar positions, but the former said after another game together last weekend, and more time on the training paddock, he was more than confident his troops could get the job done.
McGarity did concede with the fifth-placed St Pat’s coming off a 44-point drubbing at the hands of Mudgee Dragons, the reigning premiers will be looking to produce a similar sort of scoreline against the out-of-form Hawks.
“They’ll come out firing no doubt,” McGarity said.
“But I’m pretty confident we can go down there and get a win. Neither side are easybeats and, for us especially, we need to get some wins on the board soon.
“You want to be winning as often as possible, but in our position, a win against St Pat’s and another against Panthers next round will get us right back in the mix, and set us up for the second round of the competition.”
Hawks and St Pat’s lock horns at Bathurst Sportsground from 2.30pm.
ORANGE HAWKS: 1 Cody Robbins, 2 Jedd Kennedy, 3 Lachlan Harris, 4 Mitch Hurford, 5 Jason Gangaram, 6 Wise Kativerata, 7 Keegan Harding, 8 Mitch Davis, 9 Matt Boss, 10 Villie Taroga, 11 Lawrence Fogg, 12 Jared Brodrick, 13 Deryne McKenzie, 14 Sam Coyte.