In 2017, Orange City coach Steve Hamson and his players have waxed lyrical about the fact they’ve been excellent at times but haven’t been able to sustain that performance for 80 minutes.
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It was proven once again in last weekend’s local derby against Emus.
The Lions were the far better side for the opening 15 minutes, having two tries disallowed, but couldn’t maintain that pace, ultimately being outgunned 58-7.
The sentiment is still bang on, undeniably true, in Orange City skipper Logan Brockmann’s eyes.
But with his side’s finals hopes on the line basically every week, Brockmann says it’s time for his side to forget about just trying to perform for 80 minutes.
The Lions just need to do it.
“Playing finals footy is still our goal and while we’ve got a lot of young blokes, everyone is more than capable of putting it together for that period,” he said, ahead of Saturday’s round 15 clash with the third-placed Forbes Platypi.
“We can play really good footy. We know that, the whole competition knows that and we’ve been working on doing it for longer periods for a while now.
“We did for a while again last weekend against Emus. We started really well, a couple of things didn’t go our way but hopefully if we can start that way again and those 50-50 calls fall our way then we will be able to do it this weekend.”
Saturday’s clash with Forbes is the last time the Lions will face a side above them on the ladder in 2017, based on the standings now of course.
Orange City enjoys one of the easier runs home, they face CSU Bathurst, Mudgee and then Parkes in the last three rounds.
“With the competition going the way it has we have got a bit luckier with those last three weeks, and CSU beating Parkes last round makes getting to the finals a tiny bit easier,” Brockmann said.
“We still need to get the job done against those sides, but that run does make this weekend even more important.
“Like everyone says, once you get to the finals anything can happen, we just have to get there first.”
Last time around, in round six at Grinsted Oval, the Platypi suffocated Orange City out of the game to eventually win 36-5.
However what most wouldn’t know is that Orange City lost five or six to injury during that 80 minutes.
“We haven’t spoken too much about Forbes but we know they play simple rugby, then there’s your main guys there like Mahe (Fangupo) and Charlie (French),” Brockmann said.
Kick-off at Pride Park is at 3.15pm.