Orange CYMS will continue their last-ditch effort to sneak into the Group 10 premier league top five when they host third-placed Mudgee on Sunday and the returns of a handful more stars will give the green and golds a welcome boost.
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Captain-coach Dom Maley welcomed a handful back from injury in last weekend's win over Bathurst St Pat's and with their season all but going on the line again on Sunday, he's been able to name a few more to make their returns.
Steve Morris, Chris Grevsmuhl and Tim Mortimer all return to the side after being sidelined recently while Lachie Munro was a late withdrawal from last weekend's win over the Saints too, although he was sick rather than injured.
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It leaves Maley's side close to full strength, which they'll need to be if they're to upset Mudgee this week and then competition leaders Hawks next week, although even then that may not be enough for them to steal fifth spot from Cowra.
Meanwhile, at Bathurst, Hawks will be facing St Pat's, who mathematically fell out of finals contention last weekend but realistically were gone long before that.
The Saints have lost six in a row heading into the final fortnight of the regular season, which will also be captain-coach Luke Branighan's last two games in charge, and lost a couple more to injury in last week's loss to CYMS.
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Their focus has shifted to potentially spoiling Hawks' minor premiership charge, although Branighan admitted that's easier said than done, lauding the work of two blues' captain-coach Willie Heta and assistant coach Bobby Wykamp.
"Willie Heta and Bobby Wykamp have done a great job with that team," he said, before focusing on his troops.
"We have to control their go-forward, which will limit Willie's time and space with the ball. They're solid across the park.
"Everyone's got to go out there and do their job. We can't rely on just four or five players doing their job out there.
"We picked up some injuries from last week. We've lost three players from that game, and we've been without probably six to 10 first graders each game this year.
"The boys who take the field will obviously be going out there to do a job and there's no pressure on us. The main thing we're going to have to do is to play for 80 minutes and that has been a bit of a problem."
Branighan does return from injury this weekend, while Tom Clyburn, Hudson White and Jack Finn have all been ruled out.
Hawks had had the wood over the Saints recently too, they've won the two sides' last five encounters.
Hawks face St Pat's at Bathurst's Jack Arrow Oval from 2.15pm on Sunday, while CYMS host Mudgee at Wade Park from 2pm.
- ORANGE CYMS: 1 Lachie Munro, 2 Travis Adelerhof, 3 Dom Maley, 4 Damon Goolagong, 5 Tyrell Charters, 6 Steve Morris, 7 Luke Petrie, 8 Cam Jones, 9 Ryan Griffin, 10 Joe Duffy, 11 Chris Grevsmuhl, 12 Ethan Bereyne, 13 Tim Mortimer; Bench: 14 Aiden Baker, 15 Kain Earsman, 16 Robbie Mortimer
- ORANGE HAWKS: 1 Duncan Young, 2 Jack Aumuller, 3 Corey Brown, 4 Lawrence Fogg, 5 Jordan Baker, 6 Willie Heta, 7 Matt Boss, 8 Etyhan McKellar, 9 Alex Prout, 10 Dene Vete, 11 Rakai Tuheke, 12 Talon Hodge, 13 Nathan Potts; Bench: 14 Ethan Monk, 15 Brett Morgan, 16 Jared Brodrick
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