Orange City lacked it in what coach Steve Hamson described as a “lucky” win over Cowra last weekend and the Lions’ mentor said they’ll repeat that performance at their own peril in Saturday’s local derby against Orange Emus.

The Lions defied a 10-6 penalty count against them - it was 8-2 in the second half - to claim a 26-24 win over the Eagles last week and Hamson said if his troops give Emus that many opportunities it will hurt them, badly.

“We’ve seen how much it can hurt us, remember when [Emus skipper] Nigel Staniforth kicked a penalty from almost halfway on full-time to kick us out of the competition?” Hamson asked rhetorically, referring to the 2014 preliminary final.

“We got hammered in the penalty count in the second half last week, but it was our fault ... our discipline wasn’t good.

“So that’s probably the biggest thing we learned from what was, I guess, a lucky win over Cowra. We want to be keeping guys like Staniforth and the referee out of the game as much as possible.”

It’s no secret, despite winning four of their five starts, the young Lions are yet to reach their full potential.

As Hamson said though, they’re getting there and Saturday’s game would be the perfect time to shift up another gear.

“We’re never going to be completely happy with our performances, but our decision making was much better last weekend, it’s coming together,” he said.

“We’re working to our structures much better than we have been and our scrum moved forward for the first time in about three years last week.

“We’re not going in any sort of favourites, but that doesn’t mean we’ll suddenly play conservative rugby. We’re going over to Endeavour to give it a red-hot crack.

“We’re really looking forward to the challenge.”

In the Lions’ only change, former Central West prop Darcy Garlick takes his place in front row at Marcus Burrell’s expense.

Gargantuan skipper Tatafu Na’aniumotu is expected to return from injury this weekend as well, from the bench. Injured fullback Joe Lasagavibau is an outside chance to turn out from the pine as well.

ORANGE CITY LIONS: 1 Darcy Garlick, 2 Jake Johnstone, 3 Logan Brockmann, 4 Ben Wright, 5 Mitch Pearce, 6 Feleti Wolfgramm, 7 Duncan Young, 8 John Colgan, 9 Tom Nell, 10 Barton Young, 11 Taylor Smith, 12 Sam Dwyer, 13 Jake Davis, 14 Cameron Cole, 15 Keegan Harding