While Western Rams' first away trip of the Laurie Daley Cup season may dish up the under 18s side's first real challenge of the 2020 season, prop Lachie Large is confident that his boys will get the job done in Canberra.
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Western travel to the nation's capital on Saturday to play the Monaro Colts at Belconnen on the back of an impressive 42-16 first-up win against Riverina, with Dubbo CYMS junior Noah Ryan and Forbes Magpies rookie and captain Jack Hartwig both scoring doubles.
But this week Western face a Monaro side that are coming-off an impressive 40-8 thumping of GSR Tigers in round one.
And while the Monaro side is in hot-form, Kandos native and Bathurst Panthers under 18s front row forward Lachie Large isn't fazed by the opposition.
"I think we can knock them off," he said.
"As long as we play our game of football and stick to our plays and team values, we should be firing for the win for sure.
"We know little bits and pieces about them. There's not too much we know but obviously we know that they're a pretty hand side."
Large was a part of the Bathurst Panthers side that lost the 2019 Group 10 under 18s grand final to city rivals St Pat's 20-8, with season 2020 set to be his third year with the club.
He's already ticked off a few teams on his rugby league resume, having played junior rugby league for the Mudgee Dragons, Portland Colts and Lithgow Storm, before arriving for his first season with the Panthers back in 2018.
He said the big win against Riverina last Saturday was the perfect way to start the Laurie Daley Cup season, considering the huge effort Western have put in during pre-season training.
"It was a really good way to start the season," he said.
"It was just good to get a win after putting that hard work in during pre-season. All the boys have been working hard.
"We had a camp at Burrendong a week before the start of the season and all the boys really showed up for each other."
The Laurie Daley Cup match between Western Rams and Monaro kicks-off at 12.30pm at the Raiders Belconnen venue.
The under 16s Western side will also be in action against Monaro too, with their Andrew Johns Cup game kicking-off two hours beforehand at 10.30am.
The under 16s had no issues at Spooner Oval last Saturday, cruising to a comfortable 32-4 victory over Riverina, thanks to a strong and commanding performance from fill-in five-eight Tom Negus.
Their opponents on Saturday suffered a 20-8 defeat to GSR Tigers at Camden the previous weekend.
- WESTERN RAMS UNDER 18s: 1 Braye Porter, 2 Cody Lawson, 3 Noah Ryan, 4 Mason Pollack, 5 Cooper Monk, 6 Kyle Mawhinney, 7 Jack Cole, 8 Lachie Large, 9 Elijah Colliss, 10 Thomas Phillips, 11 Jack Hartwig (captain), 12 Cody Crisp, 13 Finnley Neilsen, 14 Joseph Yeo, 15 Marlin Pollack, 16 Cody Kelso, 17 Charlie Hollman, 18 Jack O'Neill
- WESTERN RAMS UNDER 16s: 1 Ryan Carroll, 2 Angus Staniforth, 3 Lachlan Lawson, 4 Cooper Ferrari, 5 William Malloy, 6 Jackson Carter, 7 Bradley Fuller, 8 Tallis Tobin, 9 Callum Johnson (captain), 10 Manny Tobin, 11 Thomas Negus, 12 Bayden Moran, 13 Thomas Lemmich, 14 Aiden Stait, 15 Kyle Cameron, 16 Hayden Morrison, 17 Preston Thorpe
