IN recent seasons Orange Emus have struggled when travelling to Northparkes Oval to take on the Boars, winning just one of their last three encounters there, in fact head coach Paul Ringland went as far as labelling the away fixture his side's "bogey" round.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The fact they will make the 100-kilometre road trip without four of their stars this weekend makes trumping the Boars on their own turf an even tougher prospect.
Fearless leader Nigel Staniforth and hooker Tom Goolagong will miss the clash with hamstring and shoulder complaints, respectively, while breakaway Andrew Cosgrove and Josh Ellice-Flint are also unavailable.
"They do leave a pretty big hole in the side, but we've picked up several first grade quality players this year so we've got plenty of depth," Ringland said.
"Parkes haven't had a great start, but we haven't done that well over there in the past, so I'm loathe to take the attitude of just getting a result.
"We're really going to be focusing on playing the best rugby we can, playing our style and I guess, to use the old clich , the result should take care of itself."
Derek Thompson comes into the side on the wing, with Isaac White, Lachlan Harris and AJ Sykes shuffling around to fill the void left by Staniforth.
Simon Badgery comes back into the side on the side of the scrum to replace Cosgrove, Keith Howarth slots in for Goolagong and Tom Green also returns on the wing. His younger brother Sam will make his debut in the No.9 jersey, at the expense of Eoin Scullion.
"Eoin didn't do anything wrong, it's more about giving several guys a chance to show us what they've got there so we can make the right decision in replacing TJ Cunynghame," Ringland said.
"We know what Eoin can do now, so we're giving Greeny a chance. Greeny has a really nice pass on him. Hopefully he can get (five-eighth) Toddy (Freedman) some good, usable ball so we can let those outside backs loose.
"Otherwise, it's about staying disciplined, being hard at the breakdown and executing across the paddock. Sometimes in these games you can try and be a bit too tricky, so we'll be looking to keep it simple."
Central West and former Shute Shield second-rower Nick Hughes-Clapp takes over from Staniforth as skipper.
Emus and Parkes kick-off at 3.15pm.
o ORANGE EMUS: 1 Nas Havealeta, 2 Keith Howarth, 3 Steve Fergus, 4 Sam McLean, 5 Nick Hughes-Clapp, 6 Simon Badgery, 7 Alo Finau, 8 Scott McLean, 9 Sam Green, 10 Todd Freedman, 11 Tom Green, 12 Isaac White, 13 Lachie Harris, 14 Derek Thompson, 15 AJ Sykes
