An ankle injury to William 'Bubba' Kennedy kept him from training with Western Division yesterday but will not keep him out of today's Divisional Championships semi-final against Monaro.
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Kennedy, who scored the intercept try that sealed victory for Western against Illawarra last Saturday, was an onlooker as his team-mates went about finalising preparations for today's contest, which will start at 2pm.
Coach Dave Scott said that Kennedy should be fine for today's match.
"I gave him the day off more as a precaution than anything," Scott said.
"We don't want to risk him before the match. He has been around long enough to know how to go about things."
Fullback Jonathon Van Veen, second-rower Simon Osbourne and reserve Cheyne Tickle were all absent from the side's first run at lunchtime yesterday due to work commitments with lock Wade L'Estrange leaving half-way through the session to return to work.
All four of these players were at yesterday afternoon's second session.
While it may not be the ideal way to prepare for a game of so much importance, Scott said it was unavoidable.
"I have my own business and I know that work comes first," he said.
"Three of the boys were on a concrete pour and Wade is busy working at the Harvey Norman complex here so I was happy to let them have the session off."
While admitting that all 17 of his players would need to perform well if Western are to win today, Scott admitted he held high hopes for a big performance from prop Mahe Hala.
Hala played with Monaro last season when he was with the Queanbeyan Blues club before building a bond with Lithgow Workies captain Kip Maranda while the pair were playing for NSW Country and deciding on a move to the mountains.
"This will be Mahe's first chance to play against his old team-mates from Monaro and I expect him to terrorise them all afternoon," he said.
"He compliments Kip well and overall the balance of the entire squad is very good."
Next Saturday, the Western Division under-18s will play Riverina at Cowra for the right to progress to the final of that competition.
WESTERN DIVISION: 1 Jonathon Van Veen, 2 Shane Weatherly, 3 William Kennedy, 4 Todd Barrow, 5 Dave Eddy, 6 Dave Elvy, 7 Peter Boon, 8 Kip Maranda, 9 Darren Jackson, 10 Mahe Hala, 11 Mick Ryan, 12 Simon Osborne, 13 Wade L'Estrange.
Replacements: 14 Josh Laurie, 15 Cheyne Tickle, 16 Damien Kennedy, 17 Pat Gibson.