The zone may be the smallest in the competition but it wants to get into the top level of competition at the Country Championships at Newcastle next week, and that means upsetting the home side.

“It’ll be a big ask because we know Central West are a very strong team,” New England co-coach Dave Schmude said.

“But we’re setting our aims high and we’re going for them.”

A win will earn a place in the Caldwell Cup against the best zones in Country while a loss will relegate the Lions to the Richardson Shield.

But the side has its sights set on the former and that means beating the Blue Bulls.

The Lions might even run into a few familiar faces in the Central West side.

“We’ve got a young team with the university in town and a lot of New England players are now playing for Central West,” Schmude said.

“They come through New England and then get a job down there or head home.

“So our zone might be be one of the younger and smaller zones but it does produce some very good footballers.

“And of course we’ve still got some in this year’s team.”

The Lions have lost skipper Alex Smith, Jeff Richardson, James Redmayne and John Adams for various reasons, but has called up some handy replacements.

They complement the regulars like Country forwards Mike Te Moana and Fergus McIntosh.

“Mike Te Moana, Fergus McIntosh and Henry Burridge in the forwards are really good,” Schmude said.

“Tom Boyle who was Central North player of the year a few years ago is our five-eighth.

“There’s John Roberts at fullback who is a very good broken field runner.

“Hopefully we can get them some clean ball and some space to move so the breakdown will be be important.”

The side is full of players from St Albert’s and the Armidale Blues and those combinations may also help.

Central North is also in action against the Central Coast today and the Kookaburras are in the same boat as New England.

They must also win to reach the Caldwell Cup.

The two local zones met in last year’s Richardson Shield final, won by the Kookas, and Schmude would love to meet them again, but this time in the top division.

“It’d be good to come up against them in Newcastle,” he said.

“I don’t know who we’ll play if we do make the Caldwell but if we’re in the Richardson we’ll play Far North Coast.”

The New England and Central North under 20s are also facing the same oppositions today.