Orange City caretaker coach Nathan Short thinks so.

Despite Orange City demolishing Mudgee 118-5 last weekend, Short - filling in for regular coaches Mick Gray and Steve Hamson - identified several areas where the Lions can improve ahead of Saturday’s Blowes Clothing Cup round 15 clash with Narromine.

“Counter attack is definitely one area,” he said.

“We can improve on our kick returns from the Mudgee game, and our phase play wasn’t as good as it could have been.

“We’ve been working pretty hard on building pressure to score points, not just finding a way to score them. So we’ve been trying to work toward third, fourth and fifth phase ball.”

WATCH OUR VIDEO PREVIEW OF THE ROUND 15 MATCHES:

The two-and-a-half hour trip down the Mitchell Highway is one of the competition’s toughest litmus tests, and Short said his side is preparing for an all out Gorilla assault at Cale Oval on Saturday.

“Narromine always grow another leg at home,” he said.

“They pushed us around a little bit when we played them at Pride Park, and I think that was a game we got away with a win in.

“We’re expecting them to play a very forward-focused game, so we need to muscle up in the pigs and make sure our set piece is strong for the entire 80 minutes.”

Lions’ 2013 premiership-winning five-eighth Michael Sparks will once again line up in the No.10 jersey, continuing to fuel speculation the star playmaker has committed to playing out the rest of the 2014 season.

“Sparksy is a huge inclusion for us, just massive,” Short said.

“Mesui (Lemoto) did a good job but he is a much more natural 12 (inside centre). This frees him up a lot, and Sparksy’s experience is invaluable.”

Kick-off between Narromine and Orange City is at 3.15pm.

ORANGE CITY LIONS: 1 Scott Smith, 2 Josh Tremain, 3 Darcy Garlick, 4 Mitch Pearce. 5 Chris Barrett, 6 Gus Brotherton, 7 Duncan Young, 8 Josh Maley (c), 9 Nick Quinn, 10 Michael Sparks, 11 Cameron Cole, 12 Mesui Lemoto, 13 Jake Davis, 14 Sam Powell, 15 Mitch Green.