TOP five hopes will be on the line for several sides tomorrow as the race for the top tier spots heats up.
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With two rounds remaining, the only top tier certainties are Moree and Narrabri.
Walcha leads a logjam behind them, with only seven points separating them and seventh-placed Tamworth.
Making things even more interesting, four of the five play each other.
Pirates (fourth) head out to Barraba (sixth) while Tamworth host Gunnedah.
The Red Devils are clinging to fifth and, depending on other results, can secure a spot with the points.
But to get them, they’re going to have to shake off some old habits.
“If we play like we did last week we’ll get done like a dinner,” Red Devils co-coach Tim Walsh said.
“We went back to old habits like against Barraba.”
It was probably a mirror image of the Rams’ game and has provided plenty to work on leading into tomorrow.
“We didn’t compete at the breakdown, weren’t aggressive enough and made the wrong decisions in defence and attack,” Walsh said.
Expecting the Magpies to be pretty competitive in the forwards, they also have to be a lot better in the forwards.
“Our forwards were terrible,” Walsh said.
Neither set piece functioned well.
They do get Matt Roseby back, which should strengthen their lineout.
“He’ll make a big difference,” Walsh said.
The situation for the Magpies is a bit more dire than the Red Devils.
Tomorrow is effectively a semi-final for them.
They need to win to have any chance of making the top five.
They are coming off arguably their best performance of the season to roll Inverell last week.
It was an important win for them and tied in with fielding one of the strongest sides they have, despite having to almost forfeit second grade.
“We’ve probably been building to this stage,” Magpies co-coach Mark Daly said.
After having a bit of a horror injury run, they had pretty much everyone available and ran the same backline for consecutive games for probably the first time.
The benefit of that showed in the way they played.
The likes of Harry Veitch (centre) and Ben Coombes (five-eighth) are also becoming more comfortable in their new positions.
Not a natural five-eighth, Daly said the penny probably dropped for Coombes last week.
The focus for the home side has been on building on their own game rather than worrying about the Red Devils.
“Gunnedah are a quality side and have had a great forward pack for a couple of years.
“We’re aware of that,” Daly said.
“We need to stick to that structure and game plan we’ve got worked out.”
In the other games tomorrow, Narrabri is home to Walcha, Moree travel to Scone and Quirindi head up to Inverell.