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RIVERINA coach Owen Thompson believes Friday's opening day of the NSW Country Championships will be crucial to his team's title hopes.
The three-day championships will start at Wagga on Friday and Riverina is desperate for an improved showing on their home turf.
Riverina has secured a strong Albury contingent to boost the team's chances and they will compliment four Wagga players.
Riverina take on defending champions Western Zone in the opening match on Friday at Robertson Oval and Thompson knows this clash will make or break his team's hopes.
"It will, that's for sure," Thompson said.
"It's imperative we get off to a good start. Confidence will start to build from there.
"Riverina are traditionally slow starters but we aim to be a lot more disciplined in our game and how we approach it this year."
Wagga batsman Josh Thompson has been in some doubt with an injured hand but has been passed fit to play.
David Bolton is only available to play on Saturday against Southern, while Albury pair Nathan Brown and Drew Cameron will each miss one of the first two matches.
Riverina has been named to play all three matches at Robertson Oval and Thompson hopes a bit of local knowledge can be used to advantage.
"I think the variety in our bowling is a strength," he said.
"It's not easy to take wickets at Robertson Oval, we know that, so it's going to be important that we've got some versatility through the middle overs to tie them down a bit and strangle the batting team, which will be a bonus for us.
"A lot of our guys are playing for Riverina for the first time, which will be a challenge, but we'll be a bit better prepared than we were last year."
Most importantly, Riverina want to improve on last year's fourth-placed winless campaign.
"We're aiming to be a lot more competitive than last year," Thompson said.
"There shouldn't be much between the four teams."