Tamworth were easily beaten by St Albert’s College last week and Burke said aspects of the game were encouraging but it might take some time for the side to find its groove.

“Effectively, it’s a new team with a lot of fellows coming back or new to the club,” Burke said.

“We’re not going to settle down on combinations for the next three or four games.

“There was periods of play we were happy with and periods where we appeared to panic a bit and not treasure the ball enough.”

Heading into this weekend’s clash with the Armidale Blues, Burke said there had been two forced changes to last week’s lineup.

“Alistair Doyle is out injured. He’ll be replaced by Jack Barker and Kieran McHugh’s knee injury caught up with him. He’s being replace by Joe Evans,” Burke said.

“We’re losing a bit of experience but gaining some speed.

“It will be interesting to see how that affects the team. I expect the side to have a lot more line and probably a bit more mobility to get us over the ball.”