It is not often a team can walk off a field after suffering a 50 point loss and take positives out of the match.
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But, that is exactly what the Parkes Boars could do from last Saturday’s loss to Orange City Lions.
The Boars can take heart from being right in the contest up until the final 20 minutes when the Lions ran away with the result.
Parkes host Bathurst Bulldogs tomorrow and will look to build on last Saturday’s effort.
“We were right in the mix until we received a couple of knocks to key players and ran out of legs,” captain Dan Ryan said.
“We need to play a bit smarter towards the end of matches and keep better ball possession.
“A similar thing happened when we played the Bulldogs in the first round when we led at half-time, only to be over run in the second half,” he said.
Boasting a big forward pack, the Bulldogs will be a difficult assignment for the Boars.
“Their confidence will be down from suffering a big loss against Emus last week,” Ryan added.
“We will need to stop their go forward and win the battle of the packs.
“If we are strong at the breakdown and set piece, we will be in with a very good chance.
“Hopefully, our more mobile pack can run their bigger players around the park a bit and tire them out.
“We will need to do that for the full 80 minutes to defeat a very good team.
“I am confident that if we stick to our game plan for all the match, we are a big chance of a win,” ryan said.
The Boars host the Bulldogs at Northparkes Oval tomorrow with first grade kicking off at 3.15pm.