A HOST of Orange City’s best will be given up until the 11th hour to prove their fitness ahead of Saturday’s away clash with the Mudgee as injuries continue to plague the Lions’ season.
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Tom Nell, Jake Davis and Joe Lasagavibau are all in doubt thanks to injury, but Lions coach Steve Hamson will afford them every opportunity to right themselves in the hope they can take the field against the Wombats.
“We’re waiting to hear from them and as a result we haven’t actually locked down a backline for Saturday yet,” Hamson said.
“We’ll give them as much time as we can, but in saying that we’d rather have them right for the back end of the year than now.
“In that respect the rotation system has worked really well, we’ve got options if these blokes aren’t fit.”
Young gun Lachie Stewart is rated a chance to replace Nell at halfback, while Jackson Coote is almost assured a place somewhere in the backline.
“We’re still weighing up those options, it’s good to have those kind of guys ready and able to go in this situation though,” Hamson said.
The Lions’ newest injury woes come while skipper Tatafu Na’aniumotu remains sidelined with shoulder and knee complaints.
“He’s still another week away I think, there’s still some swelling there,” Hamson said.
Hamson said the side is expecting another physical road trip, not unlike their match-up with the Narromine Gorillas last week.
“I think it might even be a bit more brutal, physically, although Narromine really gave it to us,” Hamson said.
“Who knows though, Mudgee have a lot of shift workers and really, we’ve got enough problems of our own without worrying too much about what the other side is doing.
“We probably won’t play as expansively with four or five of our best potentially out. It’ll be pretty simple stuff I think, but we’ll make sure we’re doing everything we do well.
“We’re still confident though, I’m sure we’ve got the depth.”
Orange City take on the Wombats at Jubilee Oval, from 3.15pm.