Mudgee Dragons premier league coach Jack Afamasaga admits his squad were “a bit shell shocked” not to claim the Group 10 minor premiership after having an impressive 10-game winning streak to start 2014.
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After Mudgee trounced Lithgow 36-4 in round 11 nothing looked as though it would stop the Dragons juggernaut in 2014 but the season soon took an awkward turn. They met a Bathurst Panthers team on the rise in round 12 and were done 34-12.
Mudgee were then only able to win one of their five remaining matches and it saw them slip to second on the Group 10 ladder.
But here is why the Dragons should be feared in the 2014 finals series.
Injuries plagued Mudgee during the second half of the season and a final round bye has helped many of their stars recover in time for Sunday’s qualifying semi-final against Cowra at Glen Willow Regional Sports Stadium.
Although Afamasaga won’t be back himself, star centre Corin Smith is a borderline hope of returning.
“He [Corin] is very touch and go. We are preparing as though he won’t play,” Afamasaga said yesterday.
“But we have plenty of other guys coming back from injury. They are pumped and ready to go.”
Three other key players who missed the season’s final game against Orange CYMS are expected to return. At the time Afamasaga admitted the Dragons were carrying around “pretty much a fourth-string side”.
In those final five games for the Dragons they never lost by more than eight points and three of them ended with a margin of four points or less.
The coach believes it comes down to playing for an entire game and not letting the opposition get on a roll.
“When we played Cowra over there it was our first half that let us down. To be honest we played like dogs balls in that first half,” Afamasaga said.
“Then we came back and only went down by three points [25-22]. You can’t afford to do that in the semi-finals.”
He said the plan was to attack Cowra on their edges as he respected their forward pack.
“Cowra have big forwards and a lot of muscle. So do we but we’ll bust up the middle as we always do and then look to really attack on the fringes,” Afamasaga said.
If Mudgee win they will play Bathurst St Pat’s next week for a right to host the grand final. Lose and they get a second bite against either Orange Hawks or Bathurst Panthers.
“Although the boys were a bit shell shocked about not getting the minor premiership because we had such a good start, we finished second and that’s still a great result. We are glad we don’t have to travel on Sunday which we would have done if we finished third, put it that way,” Afamasaga said.
The Group 10 qualifying semi-final between Mudgee and Cowra begins from 2.30pm at Glen Willow on Sunday.