Anyone in Group 10 would be well aware the Oberon Tigers are scheduled to travel to Wade Park on Sunday to take on CYMS in the major semi-final.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
What might not be as clear is just how many Oberonians will make the trip as well.
Reckon captain-coach Luke Branighan has an idea?
“There will be a few coming, I’d say,” he laughs, the club chartering as many as 10 bus loads of success-starved Tigers fans to Sunday’s game.
“It should be a good atmosphere. I’ve seen some CYMS grand finals over the year and they’ve got a good supporter base as well.”
Oberon qualified for the biggest game of the 2017 season to date thanks to a gritty 20-16 win over Bathurst Panthers last weekend.
It was by far the Tigers’ best performance of the season, one coach Branighan knew his chargers were more than capable of.
If we get a fair share of the ball then we can expose some of CYMS weaknesses.
- Oberon captain-coach Luke Branighan
The challenge now remains replicating that effort, and building on it to knock off the minor premiership winning green and golds.
“During the year, we’ve been hit and miss. We had our full compliment, pretty much, last week besides Blake Miller,” he said.
“Last week we controlled the ball, kicked well and even though we were down 10-4 we took the juice out of Panthers.
“If we drop as much ball as we did last week we’ll be punished.
“But if we get a fair share of the ball then we can expose some of CYMS weaknesses.”
Those weaknesses, Branighan says, revolve around the middle of the field for CYMS.
While the Tigers’ strike power through centres Jackson Brien and Abel Lefaoseu, will be crucial for Branighan.
“They’re two of the best in the competition. We’ve got the luxury of going both sides,” he said.
“And our middle last week was fantastic and we were able to finish it off.”
But the experienced campaign knows CYMS is an entirely different prospect to beat than Panthers.
“CYMS move the ball better than any bush side I’ve seen … they have a lot of attacking threats. A lot of X-factor,” he said.
Kick-off is at 2.45pm.