MEET the man who will fill the giant shoes of injured Orange CYMS captain-coach Mick Sullivan in Sunday’s Group 10 premier league major semi-final, and for the remainder of the season.
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He’s a former Wentworthville Magpie, one of the most experienced players in the competition, he’s played nigh on every position on the field in recent seasons and is a proven game-winner for the green and golds.
Even so, Tim Mortimer’s never played halfback in a game of this magnitude.
That doesn’t mean he’s nervous though, quite the opposite.
He’s actually feeling “pretty confident“ leading into the game, after being named to replace Sullivan who will miss the remainder of the year after busting his knee.
“I’m really excited to step into that role,” Mortimer enthused.
“Mick was spoiled for choice, I’d say there’s probably four or five guys who could’ve capably filled the role.
“I actually went to Mick before he’d made his mind up to let him know how keen I was to move into that role if he needed me to, and that I was ready to do it.
“I’m really looking forward to it. We play more left and right halves rather than a halfback and five-eighth, so I’m confident Dom (Maley) and I can work well together.”
Mortimer knows it’ll take more than just a good performance from him and Maley to down the Todd Barrow-led Bathurst Panthers though, who upset cross-city rival St Pat’s in last weekend’s qualifying final.
“Personally, I thought St Pat’s would win that game but I’m not entirely surprised,” Mortimer said.
“When Panthers get some momentum and get on a roll they’re a very hard side to stop, we found that out this season, so it’s going to take a big performance from our whole side to get over the line.
“The feeling among the boys is really good though, really positive, so I’m confident we can put that sort of performance together.”
When Sullivan went down a fortnight ago most assumed former Newcastle Knights halfback James Wynne would be his heir apparent.
I'm really excited to step into that role ... I’m confident Dom (Maley) and I can work well together.
- CYMS lock-come-halfback Tim Mortimer
Wynne will remain at hooker though while Ryan Griffin slots into lock, and Mortimer said he can see Sullivan’s logic.
“Wynney has been playing really good footy and Rabs (Griffin) was one of a few options to replace me at lock, plus I’ve played a fair bit of five-eighth,” Mortimer said.
“It was Mick’s decision though and he obviously thinks this gives us the best balance, so hopefully I can go out there and play some good footy.”
So much of stopping Panthers comes down to stopping their monstrous forward pack, Mortimer said, but CYMS can’t afford to get lazy on Bathurst’s outside men either.
“They have some classy, skilful backs who will cut you to pieces if you let them. But, we all know everything comes from their forwards so we’ll work hard to shut them down in the middle,” Mortimer explained.
“We shouldn’t need any more motivation than we’ve already got either. Playing at home to try and secure a grand final at Wade Park, with all four the club’s senior grades playing on the same day.
“It just doesn’t get much better than that.”
Sunday’s major semi-final kicks off at 2.15pm at Wade Park.
ORANGE CYMS: 1 Ben McAlpine, 2 Semisi Katoa, 3 Jerome Harrison, 4 Brock McGarity, 5 Todd Murphy, 6 Dom Maley, 7 Tim Mortimer, 8 Brenden Cousins, 9 James Wynne, 10 Simon Osborne, 11 Larsen Marabe, 12 Kyran Bubb, 13 Ryan Griffin; Interchange: 14 Sam Hill, 15 Mitch Davis, 16 Cam Jones, 17 TBC