CENTRAL North Kookaburras and New England Lions are gearing up for their showdown in Bowral this weekend as they battle for Richardson Shield supremacy.
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The two have been drawn to play each other first-up on Saturday.
Far North Coast and Mid North Coast, and Western Plains and Southern Inland will match-up in the other two “quarter-finals”, with the three winners and best loser from the three games advancing through to the semi-finals.
The Kookaburras have had to do some late scrambling around after five-eighth Henri Knight and second-rower Sam Clements were both injured during the last Central North round and ruled out.
Walcha’s Soni Halanukonuka will don the 10 in Knight’s absence while Tamworth’s Mitch Wheaton is likely to start in Clements’ place.
It still reads a strong squad and one well-equipped to bring home the silverware, with defending premiers Narrabri featuring heavily and match-winners across the park.
The Lions won’t have played a game together, only finalising their squad after the Town v Gown centenary clash but are, on paper, capable of challenging for the silverware.
“There’s definitely a lot of potential in this side,” New England director of coaching Luke Stephen said.
“For us it’s about putting together 180 minutes of good football.”
He said they have to set the platform against the Kookaburras.
The backrow particularly looks strong, with Sam Gates, Ollie Bartlett and Tom Kent.
Gates was the NERU Zone player of the year last year while Bartlett toured with NSW Country.
Backing them up are the likes of Mike TeMoana, Cedric Fadel and Ethan Kelly-Wynne, who played Country U20s last year.
The Lions colts are sprinkled with Country talent, with captain and fullback Dan Sweeney, outside centre Jake Hoban and five-eighth Tom Smart all playing for the Cockatoo Colts at the Southern States Championships earlier in the year.
Stephen and coach Mark Charter are very happy with the squad they’ve assembled and have high hopes for the weekend.
“The 20s have benefited from a lot of blokes backing up from last year’s side,” Stephen said.
That’s been supplemented by some promising freshers, and should also benefit from having a handful of the side playing first grade for their respective sides.
“Normally we might have two or three guys,” Stephen said. “This year we’ve got closer to 10.”
It’s been a bit more of a battle for the Kookaburras who were are still chasing a player after a couple of late withdrawals due to work commitments that have unexpectedly come up.
“It’s been a bit of a trial,” co-coach Barry Everingham said.
They’ve been fortunate to pick up a couple of players who are away at university.
Everingham conceded that a couple of weeks ago they weren’t that far away from not going, but is confident in the talent in the squad.
“If they all play to their individual potential we’ll be competitive,” he said.
The tough thing for them is that they are in the top tier.
