WHILE CSU Bathurst were unable to upset a Dubbo Kangaroos side missing their NSW Country stars last Saturday, captain Hugh Medway is tipping the students to prevail as underdogs on Saturday.
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It is a big call from the skipper as his team-mates take on two-times Blowes Clothing Cup defending champions Orange City at University Oval, but what CSU can depend on is having Medway lead from the front against the Lions.
Medway has been arguably CSU’s best player in every match he has played this season and along with his team-mates, was disappointed to lose 19-17 against the undefeated ’Roos last week.
However, the confidence gained from pushing a powerful team is something that the entire group will take plenty of heart from.
“We took a lot of confidence from it, for sure,” he said.
“We were struggling a bit in those first few losses to Orange Emus and Cowra. We improved with those couple of wins against Mudgee and Parkes and I believe we’ve gotten better against Narromine and Dubbo.
“It will be good to bring in some of that extra belief into this weekend’s match against another strong side.
“It is good to have small goals going into a match, like trying to work on one area in particular or tighten your defence, but you go into any game wanting to win and we will do that again this week.”
Helping the students’ cause will be the home-ground advantage, but as City have shown through each of the last three seasons, they have no problem travelling.
Even with Dubbo having temporary bragging rights at the top of the ladder having defeated City, Medway said that in his eyes the Lions are still the benchmark and that isn’t going to change soon.
“City still have to be the team that everyone is chasing,” he said.
“They won 39 matches straight or whatever it was and I don’t think that losing to Dubbo changes the fact that they’re the side to beat.
“What they do in the first half of the season really doesn’t matter all that much if they’re still near the top at the end of the year and winning finals.”
The Lions have been boosted by the return of starting half Nick Quinn and flanker Angus Brotherton who give them an even stronger look, though they were tested by Narromine last Saturday in a 22-11 win.
Meanwhile CSU have their own impending return to look forward to as Blue Bulls fullback Jack Garrad prepares to pull on the boots for the first time this season, taking on City in second grade on Saturday.
The Central West flyer is also a candidate to come off the bench for the top grade.
He will join a group that Medway said is starting to find its feet in several areas where they had struggled both last year and early in 2013.
“It would be great to have Jack come off the bench, he can have a real impact if that’s how it unfolds, but we will have to wait and see how he pulls up from second grade,” the Number 8 said.
“It has been good to watch some of the younger guys stepping up over the last month or so. Sam Robertson in the second row is one who has been in pretty good form.
“It is hard to make the transition from colts into first grade straight away and he did that last year and in the last couple of games he’s been fantastic. He’s not big, but he has made some great runs.
“Our back three have also been pretty strong, they defended very well against a big Dubbo back line and forced them into some mistakes and closed down some dangerous situations.”
The match at University Oval will kick-off at 3.20pm.
CSU BATHURST: 1 Michael Coates, 2 Tom Hudson, 3 Evan Binney, 4 Sam Robertson, 5 Pat Murphy, 6 Tom Greenaway, 7 Nick Dutton, 8 Hugh Medway, 9 Tom Gransden, 10 Nick Rutherford, 11 Pat Hill, 12 Tom Keft, 13 Tom Pegler, 14 Tennyson Vance, 15 James Tooth
