ORANGE Hawks and Orange CYMS could not be in different positions after four rounds of the Group 10 premier league season.
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CYMS are riding high, unbeaten, while Hawks are yet to take flight, sitting winless in seventh position.
The two blues’ only competition points have come thanks to a bye.
Despite the green and golds’ table-topping start to the season, captain-coach Michael Sullivan said his troops are yet to hit their stride and Sunday’s clash with the sixth-placed Bathurst Panthers at Wade Park will be a good indicator of where CYMS stand.
“They always give us a run for our money, they’ve got a big forward pack,” he said.
“A couple of their big forwards are backing up from Group duty, so hopefully we can take advantage of that. We aren’t 100 per cent yet, we’ve had a couple of people breaking games open for us. Hopefully we put it together sooner rather than later, but we’re still winning games well.”
CYMS have just one change from last week’s demolition job over Blayney, with Scott Piper replacing Dan Stuart in the centres. Stuart is set to miss one week, including today’s Group 10 match, courtesy of a hamstring twinge.
Hawks take on the similarly winless Blayney at King George Oval, and two blues captain-coach Tim Mortimer is under no illusions, saying both teams are desperate to secure a victory.
“It’s no secret we’ve struggled a bit so far,” Mortimer said.
“Hopefully this is a chance to get a win up. At their home ground, with a good side they’ll have plenty of motivation.
“We need to improve our discipline a little bit. We’ve been giving away penalties late in the tackle count which only hurts us. And our defence needs to tighten up a bit around the ruck.”
Two blues trio Alofi Mataele, Arty Shead and Joe Lasagavibau are all playing for Group 10 today in Dubbo, but Mortimer said he expects all three to back up, barring injury.
“We’re naming them, so hopefully they can recover well and back up,” Mortimer said.
Both Group 10 games kick off at 2.15pm on Sunday.
ORANGE CYMS: 1 Tim Bassmann, 2 Semesi Katoa, 3 Scott Piper, 4 Luke Coleman, 5 Jarrod Robbins, 6 Ben McAlpine, 7 Tom Stonestreet, 8 Pat Galea, 9 Sam Hill, 10 Des Knight, 11 Kyran Bubb, 12 Riley Law, 13 Ben Gosper.
ORANGE HAWKS: 1 Tim Mortimer, 2 Justin Howarth, 3 Travis Bubb, 4 Jared Brodrick, 5 Alofi Mataele, 6 Joe Lasagavibau, 7 Sandon Gibbs-O’Neill, 8 Arty Shead, 9 Mitch Hurford, 10 Luke Hunt, 11 Chris Anau, 12 Kurt McNamara 13 Kyle Burns