The 2022 season has seen him return to Orange Hawks and it's a family connection that's brought him back to the fold.

With younger brother Jackson representing the two blues, Gersbach couldn't pass up the opportunity to have his first year playing with his sibling.

And with his cousins playing together, Mitch Gallagher thought it only appropriate to join the fold, making for a dynamic trio within Hawks' squad.

"Mitch and I have played together heaps but it's my first year with Jackson," Gersbach said.

"It's good to play with him, it's something I've always wanted to do.

"It's pretty much the main reason I've come to play with Hawks this year because Jacko was playing with them.

"Our cousin Mitch wanted to come in and have a run to play with him as well."

After returning to the Group 10 competition - now combined with Group 11 for the Peter McDonald Premiership - Gersbach believes the main difference between Woodbridge Cup and the Premiership comes from playing smarter not harder.

"It's just a quicker game so you need to be a bit fitter," he said.

"It's just the little things in Group - they can slow you down in the ruck a bit and get you on your back more which takes it out of you.

"I don't find the hits any harder, there's still plenty of good footy players in Woodbridge, there's just a bit more well rounded teams in Group."

Another difference has come from the second-rower's new coach in Shane Rodney, with Gersbach welcoming a structured preparation for all games.

"Shane's an unreal coach, it's something new to me, he's pretty professional," he said.

"He knows what he's talking about, everything is real organised and he's a really good coach."

With Hawks coming into this weekend's clash against Lithgow Workies on the back of three losses, a win will be vital before they're met with two byes.

Injuries and illness means Hawks have once again had to name a team with holes to fill with Gersbach agreeing a win will be vital before the break.

"We're all pretty keen, coming off three losses in a row we definitely want to get a win," he said.

"We've got this game this weekend before a couple of weeks off which will help us because we're short on numbers with all the injuries we've had.

"We're pretty keen to rip in this weekend and get the win and hopefully get a few boys back after the break and get ready to go again."

With St Pat's scoring two long distance tries last week in its win over Hawks, defence will be where they look to improve this weekend.

For Gersbach, getting the basics right will go along way in turning around his side's fortunes.

"Just one-on-one tackles, I think we need to slow the ball down a bit too and build a bit more pressure when we get down to the line. We've been a bit slack with that lately, our ball control hasn't been good and we're missing one-on-one tackles," he said.

Hawks will kick off its first grade fixture against Lithgow at 2:15pm at Wade Park.

Orange CYMS will play on Saturday at Cowra with the top grade starting at 5:45pm.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: