"It's a massive game for us, to be honest," he said. "If we lose we go back to fifth and [that] could put us too far behind."

But if Gunnedah woin, he added, "then there could be three teams on 10 [points] and us two points behind [top spot]".

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Schmiedel said this was " a pressure game for us".

"And I've said from day one [that] we need to be prepared for these pressure games," he added.

"We've had pressure games so far and haven't handled it well, haven't finished it off against Narrabri or Moree.

"We should have fought them off. But these pressure games are good to find out where you are and if you can handle the big finals at the end of the season.

"If we can't handle the pressure now, then we won't handle it later on."

He is missing two of his "big boppers" for the clash - KC Edmonds and Jacko Brookman.

"That hurts the rotation a lot," he said of his big forward pack led by Lincon Smith. "Most of the coaches are in the same position."

Gunnedah: 1 Dylan Lake, 2 Lachlan King, 3 Dylan O'Brien, 4 Aaron Donnelly, 5 Paul Sharpley, 6 Reece Jaeger (c), 7 Nick White, 8 Lincon Smith, 9 Liam Ireland, 10 Rory Harding, 11 Zac Turnbull, 12 Nic Altmann, 13 Hayden Jaeger, 14 Aiden Davis, 15 Dylan Smith, 16 Ben Gardner, 17 Jarred Denman. Coach: Mick Schmiedel.

Kootingal-Moonbi: 1 Ethan Parry, 2 Nic Zahra, 3 Ryley McKay, 4 Liam Hatch, 5 Marshall Field, 6 Jordan Sharpe, 7 Sam Taylor, 8 Chris Vidler, 9 Kurt Hartmann, 10 Cameron McDonald, 11 Phil Beaton, 12 Logan Howard, 13 Ben Williams (c), 14 TBA , 15 Kyle Cochrane, 16 Browdie Sowter, 17 TBA. Coach: Geoff Sharpe.

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