CHARLES Sturt University Orange second-rower Blake Smoothy has seen Aggies’ low points in recent years, but with a rejuvenated player base he’s confident he’ll see some highs in 2015.
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Aggies secured their first win of the 2015 GrainCorp Cup southern division over Grenfell last weekend, and host the - surprisingly - undefeated West Wyalong Weevils at Ron Gordon Oval on Saturday.
CSU Orange will boast a 23-strong squad for tomorrow’s clash. Aggies having so many reserves was unheard of in previous years.
“It really is remarkable the turnaround,” Smoothy, a relative veteran of the side at 20, said.
“And as I’ve said previously, seeing the difference it makes having players come off the bench and make an impact is huge. It does give us a bit of confidence.”
West Wyalong defeated Condobolin and Molong in rounds one and three respectively, with a bye in round two, and Smoothy said his side was expecting a physical encounter in today’s clash, which coincides with Aggies’ Ladies Day.
“I’ve heard they’re very physical and have handy players in key positions,” Smoothy said.
“We’ve been working a lot on our defence, particularly around the fringes of the ruck and scrum. Our slide defence has been another big focus, and just our basic one-on-one tackling.
“In terms of attacking play, we’ve got flair out wide and we’re working on exposing their edges, and giving our guys space to work.”
Question marks still hang over the undefeated Weevils because, potentially crucially, they haven’t had to travel yet, securing both their wins at home.
“We’re just treating it like any other game,” Smoothy said.
“We’re expecting them to bring their best performance, and we need to better that.”
Aggies will don pink jerseys and auction them off after the game, which kicks off at 3.15pm, with all the proceeds going to the McGrath Foundation.
“We’re expecting over 100 people at the moment,” Smoothy said.