DUBBO Macquarie coach Guy Meredith will put his faith in the exuberance of youth this weekend with the Raiders' injury crisis forcing him to call up a number of the club's rising stars.
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Meredith could be missing up to 11 first graders when Macquarie travel to Forbes on Sunday, putting more pressure on a side which has lost its past five Group 11 matches.
Jeremy Smith, Mason Williams and Chris Daley are just three of the big names missing but the coach is excited to see what some of the club's juniors can do.
"It's a new look side and there will be some debuts," Meredith said.
"Phillip Combridge will debut, 'Rambo' (Hayden Kemper) will be there, Eamon Butterfield played off the bench last week and he'll get more minutes this time."
While admitting it was a difficult time for his side, Meredith said it was a fantastic opportunity for the young guns to gain experience in the top grade and really make name for themselves.
"That's right, a guy like Wade Kavanagh played minutes in all grades last week and he got some Players' Player points and it's good to see kids out there like that playing the house down," he said.
Kaide Rapley is another youngster set to make an impact after he was named on the wing while there could be even more changes with both captain Anthony Egan and the versatile Corey Cox under injury clouds.
Combined with the likes of Jack Kelly and Shaquille Gordon again in the lineup, Meredith will have arguably one of the youngest Group 11 teams in recent times.
One slight advantage for the Raiders is the fact Forbes duo Ben Maguire and Jake Grace will be backing up from Western Rams duty today.
Meredith is well aware his side face one of the toughest challenges in the competition on Sunday with the Magpies currently sitting in third and undefeated at home in 2015.
After drifting in an out of matches this season, Macquarie will have to compete for the full 80 minutes if they are to get past the Magpies and their formidable forward pack.
Meredith was pleased with his side at stages during last week's loss to Westside but felt the penalty count was far too lopsided, adding he was hopeful that wouldn't be the case at Spooner Oval.
"We should have won last week, we completed 14 of 16 sets but a penalty count of 14-6 gives them too much ball," he said.
"It wasn't necessarily all us, there were some decisions that were just wrong but we've got to roll with the punches and hope we're on the other end of a penalty count like that soon."
The action at Forbes' Spooner Oval begins with the under-18s at 11.30am before with the reserves and first grade following.
MACQUARIE: 1 Norman Button, 2 Kaide Rapley, 3 Ashley Widders, 4 Corey Cox, 5 Hayden Kemper, 6 Rowan Orcher, 7 Craig Mclean, 8 Anthony Egan (c), 9 Jack Kelly, 10 Jade Hooper, 11 Shannon Ireland, 12 Shaquille Gordon, 13 Perry Meredith, 14 Zac Rennick, 15 Matthew Lane, 16 Damien Rootes, 17 Wade Kavanagh, 18 Phillip Combridge, 19 Eamon Buckerfield