While he didn’t go as far as saying his side has let complacency creep in, Orange Emus coach Paul Ringland did admit the greens have somewhat fallen behind a number of their Blowes Clothing Cup rivals in recent weeks.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The competition leaders suffered a convincing loss to Forbes last weekend, were “so-so” in a win over Cowra in the previous game and almost blew a 26-3 lead against Bathurst Bulldogs the week before that.
As a result, they now need to beat Dubbo Kangaroos on the road this weekend to secure the minor title and hosting rights for the major semi-final, two things that just a fortnight ago looked all but assured.
The greens could actually suffer a bonus point loss this weekend and still finish first, but that’s not a situation Ringland wants to see eventuate.
“I don’t think it was complacency, I think it’s more been that the other sides have been really ramping up around us. We’ve been playing mid-season footy and I think they’ve lifted to semi-final intensity. Obviously, we have to join them,” Ringland said.
“As a group we nutted it out on Tuesday night at training and now, hopefully, we’ll be able to look back on the last few weeks and particularly Saturday as a bit of a turning point.
“There’s no panic because we still won two of those games and we’re still on top of the ladder, but we do need to lift and we know that because we haven’t reached the expectations we have for ourselves.
“We’ve got the right personnel in place and we’ve got a game-plan that we think can win a premiership, but it’s up to all of us to put it into place, I guess only time will tell if we do that.”
Ringland also admitted the Platypi bested his side “everywhere” last weekend, but said the big focus is on urgency across the paddock.
“We were just a bit slow, a step behind the pace, and Forbes took advantage of that. That’s the big area for improvement, that urgency. We had it in the last 15 or so minutes and scored two tries, that’s where the intensity needs to be all the time,” he said.
Ringland knows it won’t be as simple as his side just hitting its straps on Saturday, not against a Dubbo outfit that has everything on the line.
Roos are two points outside the top four and while they could still miss out even with a bonus point victory if results don’t fall their way, winning is likely to be enough to secure a semi-final berth.
“Going to Dubbo’s never easy, let alone in this situation,” Ringland said.
“It’s all on the line for them so we know they’ll come out all guns blazing.”
Kick-off at Dubbo’s No.1 Oval is at 3.15pm on Saturday afternoon.
- ORANGE EMUS: 1 Matt Findlay, 2 Tom Goolagong, 3 Nas Havealeta, 4 Nick Hughes-Clapp, 5 Sam McLean, 6 Jack Marchinton, 7 Jayden Norris, 8 Scott McLean, 9 Matt Clark, 10 Kyran Bubb, 11 Harry Cummins, 12 Lachie Harris, 13 Levi Russell, 14 Tom Green, 15 Nigel Staniforth ©
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.
