With no injury concerns, Orange Emus coach Paul Ringland named a full strength 23-man squad for Saturday’s Blowes Clothing Cup grand final against Forbes on Wednesday, which he admitted is a huge confidence boost leading in.
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There’s obvious strength across the paddock but what stands out most is actually the sterling group that will ride the pine for the greens.
Not since Rob Schneider, Jon Heder and David Spade combined to take down a plethora of baseball bullies in 2006 has there been such an impressive set of bench-warmers, all of whom Ringland said will play a pivotal role in Saturday’s decider.
VIDEO: See what Nick McGrath and Matt Findlay predict for Blowes Clothing Cup grand final day on Saturday:
Regular first graders Steve Fergus, Simon Badgery, Andrew Selwood, Rob Thorburn, Alo Finau and Todd Freedman will all come from the bench, as will second grade guns Keith Howarth and James Simmons.
“We don’t have a set strategy in the way we’ll use those guys but they should all see some time, they’re a valuable part of our game plan regardless of how we use them,” Ringland said.
“It’s a real show of the depth we have in the club at the moment that guys like Alo Finau, Andrew Selwood and Steve Fergus, among the others, aren’t in the starting XV.
“What we’ll really look for from those guys is for them to make an impact when they do come on.
“We’d like to think we’ve had the best set of bench players in the competition all year, but other clubs would probably say differently.”
Emus’ tight-five is unchanged from their 10-5 major semi-final win over Forbes – Tom Goolagong is hooking in between bookends Nas Havealeta and Michael Graham while Nick Hughes-Clapp and Sam McLean will line-up in the second-row.
Mitch Lockley and Andrew Cosgrove will start on the sides while Scott McLean earned a promotion from reserves and will lock the scrum.
The backline is also unchanged with Sam Green and Carter Hirini in the halves, Zac White and Nigel Staniforth in the centres, Tom Green and Lachie Harris on the wings and AJ Sykes at the back.
“We think this is our strongest 15 we can put on the paddock at the moment and we’re confident in them getting the job done,” Ringland said.
“We had a really, really tough time picking that side this week though. We agonised over it for quite a while and as I’m sure people can see, there’s some really good players not named at all.
“Again it’s a show of depth and it is a good problem to have. Our guys all understand the club mentality here too, and another benefit is the strength is adds to our second grade side.
“They have a really strong group for their grand final this weekend.”