Orange CYMS have been hit reasonably hard by injury in recent weeks, captain-coach Mick Sullivan makes no secret of that, mainly because he views the chance to test his club’s depth as a positive.
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Why wouldn’t he, when he’s got the likes of young gun Tyrone Harrison to call up.
Harrison, a Western Rams junior star, has run from the bench in a couple of Group 10 premier league games this season but will make his run-on debut against Oberon on Saturday afternoon.
He’ll play lock in place of the injured Tim Mortimer, in a nod to his versatility, he came on at wing last weekend against Mudgee.
“I really think Tyrone was outstanding last weekend and I’m sure he’ll do the job for us again this weekend,” Sullivan said.
“I think Tyrone will be a permanent fixture in this side next year so to have the chance to give him, and guys like him, experience in big games against quality sides like Oberon, it’s a good thing.
“We don’t want injuries but they’re part of the game and you take the good with the bad, we’re testing our depth but as I said, it’s positive in a way and we’ll still be fielding a really strong side.”
Mortimer’s only expected to miss a week, two at the most, but the green and golds will be without Brenden Cousins and Bronx Goodwin too, the latter underwent surgery on his thumb during the week.
They are boosted by the early return of Tom Satterthwaite though.
Even with a handful out, Sullivan’s still supremely confident. He has a right to be, considering CYMS are unbeaten and have one hand on the minor premiership already.
He doesn’t underestimate the third-placed Tigers though.
“They’re a quality side but it’s been proven this year that when we play the kind of footy we set out to we’re the toughest team in the competition,” he fired.
“When we complete our sets there’s very few teams that can keep up with us, so it really is about completions for us. And starting well, because teams come hard at us early.
“We’ve had our periods where we switch off and you try and minimise those where you can, which we’ll continue to do.
“Being in Oberon it’ll be tougher than last time around. I’m not sure what (captain-coach) Luke Branighan is doing, whether he’s playing or not, but they had no direction when they played here so if he does he’ll make a big difference.”
Saturday’s clash in Oberon kicks off at around 2.30pm.
- ORANGE CYMS: 1 Ben McAlpine, 2 Semisi Katoa, 3 Lachie Munro, 4 Joe Lasagavibau, 5 Tom Satterthwaite, 6 Dom Maley, 7 Mick Sullivan ©, 8 Joe Duffy, 9 Ryan Griffin, 10 Cam Jones, 11 Chris Bamford, 12 Rob Mortimer, 13 Tyrone Harrison