Despite boasting an almost identical side to the one which claimed last year’s Blowes Clothing Cup title, Orange Emus coach Paul Ringland knows the greens will face a battle for consistency and cohesion in Saturday’s opening round.
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Emus have lost barnstorming flankers Andrew Cosgrove and Mitch Lockley, rock-solid centre Zac White and bustling utility Todd Freedman and with a tweak to their style of play this year as well, Ringland isn’t looking for perfection against the Dubbo Rhinos.
He just wants the side to do enough, under its new structure, to win and hit the ground running in its bid for a third straight premiership.
“We’ve had some big outs that leave big holes to fill. We are lucky enough to have a lot of depth in a lot of positions and that helps a lot, but with a new way of playing we probably will lack a bit of cohesion,” Ringland said.
“That’s where we’ll look to our leaders to stand up, keep a cool head and make sure we don’t let that get the better of us.”
One of those leaders is obviously mercurial skipper Nigel Staniforth who, after years of wearing No.13, will start the 2017 season at fullback.
Last year’s No.15 AJ Sykes, who won the greens’ player of the year crown, is unavailable but it’s unclear whether he’ll slot back into the custodian role when he returns or not.
“Nige hasn’t played fullback for a while, but he’s versatile and knows what he needs to do there,” Ringland said.
“We’ve had a bit of a reshuffle in terms of our backline and where a few guys would regularly play, but we think we can get the best out of Nigel at the back.”
The versatile, and gargantuan, Rob Thorburn is also unavailable this weekend. It’ll present Ringland and co-coach Jeremy Wallace with a big problem when he and Sykes return.
“It will, having this kind of depth is a welcome issue but it also puts us in a very hard spot at times,” Ringland said.
“We’ll have to look pretty closely at what happens this weekend and then see what we can work out, it’ll be tough to decide which players make up our best XV this year I think though. They’ll all get a chance.”
The greens welcome back flanker Bill Travers after a season off with shoulder complaints while effervescent outside back Levi Russell slots in on the wing. A former Emus star, he returns to the club after a stint dominating in the Northern Territory.
Ringland said Rhinos present a sense of unknown in round one.
“We’re not sure what to expect outside a tough game of rugby. Last year, despite results, we came away from our Rhinos games pretty battered and bruised, we’re expecting more of that especially in round one at Dubbo,” he said.
“We were really impressed with the Rhinos’ culture and attitude last season and those are the big things which help inspire improvement in a club, so we’re sure Dubbo will have improved even further.
“We want to hit the ground running, we’ve got a tough run over the next few weeks especially playing Forbes in a grand final rematch in round two.”
Emus face Rhinos at Dubbo’s No.1 Oval, rather than Caltex Park, from 3.15pm.
- ORANGE EMUS: 1 Nas Havealeta, 2 Tom Goolagong, 3 Michael Graham, 4 Sam McLean, 5 Nick Hughes-Clapp, 6 Andrew Selwood, 7 Bill Travers, 8 Scott McLean, 9 Sam Green, 10 Carter Hirini, 11 Tom Green, 12 Simon Thompson, 13 Lachie Harris, 14 Levi Russell, 15 Nigel Staniforth ©