Young, fit and ready to go.
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That’s how mercurial halfback Tom Nell described his Orange City side ahead of its Blowes Clothing Cup opener against Cowra.
It’s a Lions side with a very new, very young flavour to it as well.
The stars from Orange City’s back-to-back premierships in 2012 and 2013 are virtually all gone, outside a handful, replaced with guns from the successful Lions colts side of recent years for the most part.
That’s a good thing, if you ask Nell.
“There is still a bit of experience there and a couple of guys from those glory years, but it’s a very new-look team, definitely,” he said.
“We’re young, fit and ready to go, we gel really well because we’re all a similar sort of age and we’re really looking forward to getting out there.
“We’ve had a great pre-season and the overwhelming feeling in the group is confidence.”
Sam and Jackson Coote are both unavailable but will return to the side in round two and while Nell acknowledges the losses of Joe Lasagavibau and Cameron Cole leave big holes, he’s confident the youngsters in their place will step up to the mark.
Considering the Lions still lack size, getting the job done against a Cowra side known for its physicality through the forwards isn’t going to be easy.
“It never is against Cowra, they’re always strong,” Nell said.
“But we don’t really know what they’re going to bring to the table, we’re definitely backing ourselves though.
“We won’t back down from the physical stuff but obviously with that lack of size we want to use our mobility around the paddock to our advantage.”
Saturday’s season-opener kicks off at 3.15pm, at Pride Park.
- ORANGE CITY LIONS: 1 Joe Blunt, 2 Chris Senior, 3 Darcy Garlick, 4 Scott Smith, 5 Denis Kavas, 6 Ben Swadling, 7 Duncan Young, 8 Logan Brockmann ©, 9 Tom Nell, 10 Barton Young, 11 Luke Stunden, 12 Cameron Logan, 13 Jake Davis, 14 Keegan Harding, 15 Dave Challis