Gunnedah coach Sean Hayne says the Bulldogs have no choice but to leverage their lauded speed and fitness when playing North Tamworth and Narrabri.
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Ahead of Gunnedah’s away clash against Wee Waa on Sunday, Hayne admitted the Bulldogs could not match Norths and Narrabri in the forwards.
He said: “We’re a pretty small team. We don’t get to bend the [defensive] line as much [as Norths and Narrabri]. We don’t get on rolls as much as those two teams do. So we’ve sort of got to play them a little different.”
Hayne, in his first year in charge of Gunnedah, placed a big importance on fitness in the off-season. He praised his players for maintaining their fitness throughout the season. “We did the hard yards,” he said.
“Like I said, we haven’t got a lot of size – we’re a small team. So we’ve got to use whatever we can to our advantage. At the moment fitness and speed are a couple of advantages we’ve got over a couple of teams.”
That being said, Hayne would like to see the side “bend the line” more and control the ruck better against Norths and Narrabri.
Narrabri coach John Rumsby knows only too well the threat posed by Gunnedah. When asked why his side had beaten Norths twice this season but had lost twice to the Bulldogs, he said: “Gunnedah’s probably fitter than all of us, and they’ve got a really nice, speedy backline.”
The speed of Gunnedah versus the brute force of Norths and Narrabri. In a year in which much has been made of the competition’s weaknesses, the run to the finals is not without anticipation and intrigue.
With four matches to go before the finals, North Tamworth sit atop the ladder on 18 points. Gunnedah are also on 18 points, with the Blues on 16 points.
Hayne spoke of importance of Gunnedah staying undefeated over the remainder of the regular season. To do that, they have to beat Norths for the first time and notch their third win over Narrabri.
Hayne said: “If we want to finish one or two, we’ve got to win every game … We’ve spoken about how if we want to be contenders, we have to win games against Norths, and hopefully go through the final round with five wins from five games.”
He said Gunnedah could beat Norths “if everything goes right”. But he added: “If we’re just off the pace a little bit and our intensity is not quite 100 per cent, we’ll end up getting beaten by both teams [Norths and Narrabri].”
Also on Sunday, Collegian play Norths at Jack Woolaston Oval and South West host Narrabri at Scully Park.