ORANGE Emus welcome back 2015 premiership-winners Steve Fergus, Nick Hughes-Clapp and Andrew Cosgrove in Saturday’s round 15 Blowes Clothing Cup match-up with Parkes, the trio has had several weeks off through unavailability.
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On top of that, last year’s title-winning winger Carter Hirini will line-up at fullback, with regular custodian AJ Sykes moving to five-eighth in place of Todd Freedman, who is sidelined with concussion.
Lachie Harris comes back into the starting side, he’ll don the No.12 at inside centre while skipper Nigel Staniforth slots back into outside after resting in last weekend’s win over Mudgee.
“It’s great to have these guys come back into the side, they got the job done last year and have been working hard,” head coach Paul Ringland said, before lauding the work a number of replacements have done in their absence.
“We’re thankful we have so much depth, it was great to see that and be able to give a handful of deserving guys a chance. They stood up when we needed them to but the guys who have come back in deserve to.”
Emus didn’t hit the lofty standards they set, performance wise, as a group in last weekend’s 25-12 victory over the Wombats but Ringland is confident the side can re-establish the intensity levels needed against the lowly Boars, who are coming off an 85-0 trouncing at the hands of Cowra.
“I hope we can,” Ringland said.
“We’ve spoken all year about building performance wise toward the end of the year, so hopefully we continue that on Saturday and get back to where we need to be intensity and execution wise.”
Despite the Boars being 10th with just two wins on the board, Ringland said they still pose a real danger to the competition-leading Emus.
“They beat (Bathurst) Bulldogs at one stage so they can be dangerous,” Ringland said.
“There’s still a few guys around from when they won the top grade title a few years ago and I still think any side can beat anyone else on any given day.
“If you go in thinking otherwise, with the wrong mindset, that’s when you get yourself into trouble.
“So we won’t take them more lightly than any other side.”
Emus host Parkes at Endeavour Oval on Saturday afternoon, from 3.15pm.
ORANGE EMUS: 1 Steve Fergus, 2 Tom Goolagong, 3 Nas Havealeta, 4 Nick Hughes-Clapp, 5 Sam McLean, 6 Andrew Cosgrove, 7 Andrew Selwood, 8 Scott McLean, 9 Sam Green, 10 AJ Sykes, 11 Marty Bryan, 12 Lachie Harris, 13 Nigel Staniforth, 14 Tom Green, 15 Carter Hirini
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
