For the most part, North Tamworth coach Brad McManus is as emotive as a professional poker player as he sits on the sideline at matches, his stubble-covered face shaded by a raffia hat verging on sombrero-like in size and his arms crossed over a Bears shirt, no matter how cold it is.
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“The word excited and Spitter [McManus’s nickname] don’t normally go together,” a long-time local league follower said.
But crack the cool exterior and you will find that McManus is indeed excited.
And what has elevated his mood, beyond how one imaged he felt watching his side go through the motions in a 84-12 win over Collegian on Sunday, is the looming finals series.
For in a competition that is hobbled by weekly scorelines like that, or worse (Narrabri beat South West 128-0 on Sunday), this year’s final series is anticipated because the top three teams, Norths, Narrabri and Gunnedah, are evenly matched.
“You want to be playing tight games,” McManus said. “You don’t want to be in these 80 to 90 [point] wins.
“I think the finals series is something to look forward to, and the top two teams will be there to bash it out [in the grand final].”
For the past three years, North Tamworth have sauntered across the local league landscape en route to three successive premierships.
But this year they have struggled against Narrabri’s big, physical pack, losing twice to the Blues on the road – including a 20-18 loss two rounds ago – while Gunnedah have beaten Narrabri twice and tested the Bears before losing narrowly when they last met.
Norths had won nine straight ahead of the Narrabri clash, and McManus said the defeat brought the side “back to earth a bit”. He described the Blues as the Bears’ bogey side away from home.
“We’ve talked about it [the loss], and it’s better off happening now than later on down the track,” he said.
“We’ve got a bit to work on and we’ve got some good young players here at the moment, and they’re sort of just starting to gel together. So hopefully we can go on from there.”
He added: “Obviously we got done out at Narrabri last week but it was only two points in it. So the finals series between the top three teams is going to be a pretty tough one, I think.”
Like Norths, Gunnedah have 10 wins and two losses but sit in second place on the ladder due to the Bears’ far superior for-and-against percentage. Narrabri are two points adrift of them.
“Gunnedah have got a good young side,” McManus said. “[Coach] Sean Hayne’s done a great job with them out there. I’m looking forward to it [the finals], and I think the boys are too.
“At the end of the day, if we look after our own backyard, I think we’ll be right come the end of the season.”
