THE prospect of another exciting St Pat's versus Dubbo CYMS Western under 21s clash is on the cards but if the Bathurst men want to make that meeting happen they have to first get through Dubbo Macquarie this Sunday.
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And that's easier said than done.
Saints will go into this weekend's semi-final as favourites though they'll be on alert for a Raiders team who pushed them in their previous fixture.
St Pat's accounted for Dubbo Macquarie 26-22 at Diggins Oval during the regular season where the Saints got off to an excellent start before the visitors hit back late.
Pat's coach Tyson Medlyn doesn't want his team reading too much into that previous result because he believes the Raiders were their own worst enemies in that game, and he expects the Dubbo men to be a much improved unit this Sunday.
"Dubbo's been pretty strong in all their grades so when they came over here we didn't expect anything less. We got off to a good start but we got pretty lucky because they dropped a lot of ball and we were able to make the most of it," he said.
"We're not going to rely on them making mistakes. We're going to need to play 60 minutes of solid footy. We spoke about that - not trying to play footy off the back of what they do wrong but trying to make things work for us straight from the get-go.
"We've got a few of our 21s boys stepping up for first grade, and that doesn't start for another month, so this gives them a chance to show our first grade coach Zac [Merritt] what they've got."
The match is the first half of a semi-final double header at Barden Park this Sunday.
Unless Dubbo CYMS go down in a big upset against Forbes Magpies in the other semi-final it means St Pat's won't have a home game this finals series.
"That's the way it just panned out. At the end of the day I said to the guys it doesn't matter where you play, the team who wants it most will take it regardless of the outside noise," Medlyn said.
"I have faith in all our guys, and they don't mind where they play."
Pat's and Raiders kick off from 1pm with CYMS and Forbes to follow at 2.30pm.
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Alexander Grant
Part of the Western Advocate's sports desk in Bathurst.
Part of the Western Advocate's sports desk in Bathurst.
