They've had a pair of Blowes Clothing Cup contests to find their feet but now, it's put up or shut up time for Josh Tremain and the Orange City Lions as they're 0-2 with an away assignment at Forbes looming.
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The veteran forward is lapping up his time back on the paddock after 2019's infamous king hit saw him spend a total of 14 months away from the game he loves but now, Tremain's hoping to help his side earn a finals berth this winter and knows a ticket to the postseason will be hard to come by if they don't win on Saturday.
"It's been a long road back for me," Tremain said.
"I'm happy to be out there getting the idea of the game again.
"Last week's loss was tough but the games don't get any easier for us... Forbes at Forbes is always hard and they haven't won either so they'll come out firing."
Tremain's illustrious career in the senior ranks of Orange City started in 2004 and since then, he's been a staple in the forward pack for the Lions having only missed three seasons out of 16.
"I was out 2009 with a shoulder reco and I was out for 2016 as well, he said.
Saturday's derby loss was Tremain's season debut and says the 50-10 was a hard pill to swallow but Viv Paasi's men plan to use the result as motivation moving forward.
"We gave it our best in the first half and the scoreline reflected that," he said.
"They're a classy side and they've played a lot of good football together.
"We need to take that loss and try to improve on the things we did wrong."
Some of the focuses for City at training this week have been discipline as the Lions were on the wrong side of a 20-7 penalty count at Endeavour Oval in round three.
"It doesn't matter who you play, you can't challenge anyone when you give away that many penalties," he said.
"We were also a bit eager in defence and rushed up a lot. If we can fix that, and our set pieces we're going to improve tenfold.
"We played against half the Central Western forward pack on the weekend and it's going to be tough again at Forbes but we need to aim up. Once we get that first win, the wins will start coming easier."
City will be hoping to continue to get contributions from the rugby league converts who've made their mark on the team so far as Rakai Tuheke's stood out in Blocker's eyes.
"He's a big, strong man and he knows what he's doing out there... he's done really well for us so far" he said.
Steven Widders is another Orange City player who's made strides throughout the first two weeks as the elusive fullback scored the first try in the loss to Emus.
Forbes is also without a victory in 2020 and will be looking to get into the winner's circle on Saturday.
The contest will kick-off at 3.15pm.
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