On their way to the 2016 grand final, a little under three years ago CYMS handed Hawks an 88-nil hammering in the the most lop-sided Group 10 premier league derby in more than a decade, the two blues finished second last that year.
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How times change.
Now, 1039 days on from that 16-tries-to-one thrashing the tables are turned completely, with the high-flying Hawks entering this Sunday's all-Orange grudge match as red-hot favourites.
To be fair after their drought-breaking win in the first derby of last year Hawks went into the second as favourites too but they certainly weren't as short-priced as they'll be come Sunday afternoon, incidentally CYMS went onto win that game anyway.
Having lost just once this year the two blues sit in a share of the competition lead with Mudgee and Bathurst Panthers - once separated by points difference they're third - while CYMS are seventh, with just two wins on the board.
Hawks are coming off a 52-nil drubbing of Bathurst St Pat's last weekend while CYMS were handed a 44-18 shellacking by Mudgee, with Dragons gun Jared Robinson scoring four of his side's nine tries.
Although he acknowledged the injury-hit green and golds haven't hit their usual lofty standards so far in 2019's opening eight rounds, Hawks player-coach Willie Heta is well aware of the old cliche that form means little in local derby.
"I don't think they're travelling all that well right now but the derby is always tough and that probably makes them hungrier, you can guarantee they're going to show up and we're going to have to as well," Heta said following Sunday's win.
Heta described that victory and the two blues' win over Panthers, the defending premiers, two weeks prior as the perfect performances to go into the derby on the back of.
Statisically Hawks' win on Sunday was quite remarkable as they completed at 100 per cent in the opening half - 17 of 17 sets - and missed out on just two in the second, the 52-nil scoreline reflecting that control.
Granted their was an ordinary showing against Blayney in between them but that was an anomaly when you look at this season holistically.
"I feel like we're building," Heta said.
"If we can string sets like that together I think it's going to be pretty tough for the other sides to hold us out but even so, it was defence and attitude that got us through [last Sunday].
"That's something we didn't show against Blayney the week before so it was nice to see we'd moved past that performance."
Sunday's local derby is expected to kick-off around 2pm, with the lower grades playing beforehand as usual.
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Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
