TAMWORTH will be looking to finish their home season on a winning note against Gunnedah on Saturday as they cling to a slim hope of a finals berth.
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Magpies co-coach Mark Daley conceded it’s really their “last roll of the dice”.
With Quirindi assured of the five points for the bye they need to account for the Red Devils to keep in touch with the Lions.
The Red Devils are in a similar predicament as are Barraba, with the only side really out of the running, Scone.
“If the effort is there from last weekend we'll go close to winning,” Daley said, referring to their narrow loss to the Lions.
“We were just beaten by a better side. They had a few players in key positions that we just couldn't handle.”
Daley highlighted the breakdown as being where it will be won and lost.
“If we can control the breakdown I would think we'd probably be too good,” he said.
“If we're not dominant at the breakdown it's probably a toss off the coin.”
Perceiving a slight advantage out wide with their speed, their plan will centre around trying to exploit that.
Narrabri will similarly have a lot of incentive to get the better of Walcha when they host the Rams.
“We know if we drop one of these games we could lose our home major semi-final,” Blue Boars coach Nick Lennon said.
Only two points separate them and Pirates.
They are coming off a welcome week off, but are still carrying injuries and will be without Henry Curtin and James Thomas.
The Blue Boars’ last outing was a 25-all draw with old foes Moree, and gave them plenty to work on over the break.
“We know after Moree we were beaten at the breakdown. We know we need to improve there,” Lennon said.
“We (also) spoke about that we're leaking too many tries. Half of the tries scored against us have been in the last three games. We need to get back to the determined defensive effort was had at the start of the season.”
They got the better of the Rams when they last met but it was a hard slog and Lennon said, they are expecting a big performance from them.
“When we played them over there Soni (Halanukonuka) and Simon (Newton) weren't playing,” he said.
“With their Country reps back we're under no illusions they'll be a lot better than over there.”
In the other Tier 1 game, Moree is at home to Inverell, while in the other Tier 2 game Barraba travels to Scone.
TABLES: Tier 1 – Narrabri 52, Pirates 50, Moree 39, Walcha 38, Inverell 31; Tier 2 – Quirindi 13, Barraba 11, Tamworth 11, Gunnedah 10, Scone 1.
