Wounded Lions wary of the fired-up Rhinos

ORANGE City will field a vastly different line-up in tomorrow’s Blowes Menswear Cup match against Dubbo Rhinos.

Six regulars are out, allowing some others to come in and state their case for a spot in the finals.

The front row will have two changes after hooker Chris Senior was given an automatic one-week suspension after receiving his third yellow card, while captain Nathan Short is away for a school reunion.

Former first graders John Gander and Josh Tremain will come into the front row.

Flanker Wayne Miller and fly-half Anthony Begg are out injured.

Centre Kurt McNamara is unavailable, as is winger Sam Powell.

Michael Sparks will start at fly-half this week with Tom Sheridan getting a start at inside centre.

Duncan Young moves to the wing with Dom Maley starting at fullback.

Lions coach Steve Hamson said having so many changes was far from ideal but he could also see positives from the situation.

“It’s probably not an ideal time of year to have it but there’s not much we can do about it,” Hamson said.

“It gives us an opportunity to look at some other guys. Gander and Tremain are first graders from last year, Tom Sheridan played first grade last year and Dom Maley is a former first grader for CSU. I don’t think we’ll lose anything. The cohesion and timing might not be there for the first 20 minutes but we should be right after that.”

Preparations have been tough this week with the team unable to train at Pride Park as the ground was too wet.

Hamson was hopeful the team would get some time on the field last night before tomorrow’s clash.

The coach is wary of playing a winless Rhinos outfit in Dubbo.

City won their last encounter 49-5 in Orange in round eight.

But Hamson expects things to be tougher tomorrow.

“I’d like to think we’ll give a good account of ourselves,” he said.

“This is their last home game so they’re going to be fired up. They’re not going to want to go through the season not winning a game at all. It’s a game you’d like to think you could win but I just don’t know.”

n ORANGE CITY: 1 John Gander, 2 Josh Tremain, 3 Peter Friend, 4 Josh Maley, 5 Chris Barrett, 6 Mitchell Pearce, 7 Keith Andrews, 8 Chris Grant, 9 Ollie Stone, 10 Michael Sparks, 11 Duncan Young, 12 Tom Sheridan, 13 Ben Mills, 14 Will Ostini, 15 Dom Maley.