While he agreed Orange Emus look slightly more vulnerable than they have been in recent years leading into this weekend's blockbuster Blowes Clothing Cup local derby, Orange City captain Josh Tremain didn't go quite so far as to say his Lions smell blood in the water.
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They are absolutely heading to Endeavour Oval with an eye on handing Emus their third consecutive loss but Tremain was merely being realistic about how tough that task will be, considering his improving side is still yet to win a game.
"I, personally, do still think they're the benchmark, so maybe not so much blood in the water but we're definitely very, very hungry for our first win and it would be great to get it this weekend," Tremain said.
We're definitely very, very hungry for our first win and it would be great to get it this weekend.
- Orange City captain Josh Tremain
"In saying that we're not under any illusions ... we're building into it and improving every week and even though I've heard Emus might be missing a few we know how tough a task it's going to be on Saturday.
"But if we can put it together, get a bit of luck and keep the pressure on, well, who knows."
Emus will be without at least Nigel Staniforth, Tom Goolagong, Simon Badgery and TJ Cunynghame and considering they are coming off two straight losses, there's reason to suggest this is a huge opportunity for the Lions to snap their nine-derby losing streak.
"Everyone always says it but I really do think you can throw form out the window in these games," Tremain said.
"I've played in a lot of local derbies over the years, a lot, and this does feel like the biggest one recently but in saying that they do always seem to be close.
"With the exception of last year, and maybe the year before to an extent as well, these games always seem to be close and very, very hard-fought regardless of how the two teams have been going and I think that might be the case this weekend.
"Even then the first two (in 2018) weren't the biggest scorelines, but our boys' heads were well and truly down by the [71-7 loss in round 11].
"That's one thing that isn't happening this year, the heads aren't going down."
The biggest focus for the Lions, Tremain said, is shoring up their defensive line after repeatedly lapsing throughout the opening month of the season.
"We're almost there, we're not far away," he said.
"We've certainly been playing some pretty good rugby, much better than last year, and I think in all our games so far we've just about been the better side for the final 20 minutes at least.
"That might be a result of how much work (coach) Viv Paasi has put into our fitness, because we are a pretty fit side this year, it's just about trying to get that consistency across 80 minutes.
"A lot of it is just a few defensive lapses we've been having every week, it's been the same thing in every game, if we can cut them out and fix that up it'll go a long way to getting us over the line."
The Lions will be without five-eighth and vice captain Cam Cole who is sidelined with a rib injury, regular fullback Keegan Harding slots into first receiver with Barton Young shifting to the custodian role.
Jake Johnston also returns to one side of the scrum, while Feleti Wolgramm will make his first top grade appearance on the side.
The local derby kicks off at 3.15pm at Endeavour Oval and acts as a curtain-raiser to the Westfund Ferguson Cup derby, which is the main event on Emus' ladies' day.
- ORANGE CITY LIONS: 1 Cal Townsend, 2 Nick Fisher, 3 Josh Tremain (c), 4 Scott Smith, 5 Colin McGregor, 6 Jake Johnston, 7 Feleti Wolfgramm, 8 Duncan Young, 9 Tom Nell, 10 Keegan Harding, 11 Ben Dennis, 12 Harry Taberner, 13 Nick Smith, 14 Tom Westcott, 15 Barton Young
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