NARRABRI will host Gunnedah in a minor semi-final at Collins Park for the second year in a row on Saturday and captain coach Lachie Cameron believes that the side is ready to put last year’s loss behind them.
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The Blues couldn’t ask for a better confidence booster for the final after beating Gunnedah 34-18 in the final round on Sunday to earn the home ground advantage.
They weren’t the only side to beat an opponent that was higher on the ladder as all three games were upsets.
The biggest was West Lions defeat over North Tamworth, the Bears were heading into the last round undefeated but will get a chance at revenge when the two sides meet in the major final at Jack Woolaston on Sunday.
Cameron is going to worry about the Tamworth heavyweights only when he needs to, first concentrating on the job at hand, Namoi rivals Gunnedah.
Narrabri looked like blowing the Bulldogs away early on Sunday, leading 30-4 into the break before letting Gunnedah almost fight their way back into the match, although for the skipper the average performance has an upside.
“I was happy to get the win but not happy with the performance,” Cameron said.
“We were bad with the ball in the second half and let them give us a scare.”
“To not be at our best and still win is a positive though.”
Neither side will get much time on the training paddock with a week of rain leading into the big game and a six day turnaround.
Gunnedah will likely improve from getting a handful of key players back that missed last weekend’s match, while the Blues don’t want to change too much from the plan that has beaten the Bulldogs the past two out of three games.
“We won’t be doing anything new,” Cameron said. “I just want the boys to work on out attack – when to pass and when to go yourself and things like that.”
The skipper was pleased with the defensive effort last week, but knows that finals can do funny things to football teams.
“It was pleasing that we were able to restrict them last week and hopefully we can make better use of the home final than we did last year.”