ORANGE Hawks are hoping last weekend’s 43-10 loss to Orange CYMS is only a blip on the radar.
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The Group 10 competition heads to Blayney tomorrow for the two blues, with Hawks tackling a Bears outfit boasting the potential to make a real impact on this year’s premiership, and that’s largely based on the recruitment of Will Ingram, Bubba Kennedy and wily pivot Steve Lane.
But Hawks captain-coach Brock McGarity is confident the two blues will bounce back after getting caught up in the “hype of derby week” in the lead-up to the CYMS loss in round one.
“We’ve gone a lot better this week, but in saying that we trained well last week too. I think some of the young guys just got a bit caught up in the derby hype and forgot how to tackle,” McGarity said.
“We’ve got the first big game out of the way now, so hopefully now we can bounce back like I know the boys want to.”
Hawks will still be without Arty Shead for the trip to King George Oval tomorrow.
The hulking prop’s go forward was missed severely against a big CYMS pack last weekend, and with Blayney’s size its advantage this season, the absence of Shead will dent the two blues’ chances of victory again.
But McGarity was hopeful of an added boost up front.
Hawks have had two-time premiership winning Albury Thunder prop Mitch Davis cleared this week, while Narromine prop Turaga, Viliame was also cleared this week to appear in two blues colours.
Whether or not both appear in Blayney, McGarity was remaining coy on.
The two blues captain-coach admitted Blayney have “got some quality players this year” and as such knew tomorrow’s trip for the earlier than usual clash at 12.50pm with the Bears won’t be an easy game.
“I think we’ll be okay this week though,” McGarity said of his side’s chances in Blayney.
“We were terrible in different areas against CYMS, so if we can improve on the little areas that let us down last week I think we’ll do much better. A lot of the boys were obviously disappointed with how they went.”
Jarrod Robbins comes on to the wing for Tory Madden, while under 18s gun Deryne McKenzie has been named to start at prop with Wise Kativerata moving back to lock.
Todd Morrissey comes into the backrow for the absent Kurt McNamara.
ORANGE HAWKS: 1 Cody Robbins, 2, Jarrod Robbins, 3 Jared Brodrick, 4 Lawrence Fogg, 5 Lachy Harris, 6 Brock McGarity, 7 Matt Boss, 8 Sam Coyte, 9 Mitch Hurford, 10 Deryne McKenzie, 11 Kyle Byrnes, 12 Todd Morrissey, 13 Wise Kativerata.
