A PLANNED trial match with the Greater Northern Tigers might have fallen through, but Western Rams under 18s coach Kurt Hancock is still confident his side will be ready for this year's Laurie Daley Cup.
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In fact Hancock is so impressed with the talent and commitment of those vying for a spot in the final Rams squad, he feels Western would be capable of fielding two competitive teams in the annual battle for NSW country supremacy.
"We were talking about it with our coaching staff and we said that we could put two teams in this competition and be successful, that's how good this age group actually is. We could put two teams in and they'd probably meet in the semi-finals," Hancock said.
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The under 16 and under 18 Rams had planned to play the Greater Norther Tigers at Kandos on Saturday to help coaching staff make a final call on their squads. A maximum of 24 players can register for the cup competitions and only 18 can be used on game day.
But a date mix up - the Tigers thought the trials had been set for January 30 - means the Rams will now play intra-squad matches on Saturday instead.
That doesn't really worry Hancock.
"There's no point crying over spilt milk, we'll just move on with it," he said.
Last Saturday the Rams dominated in their trial match against Riverina, running in seven tries on their way to a 32-4 victory.
That win came with eight members of the squad missing. Four of them - Bathurst's Josh Belfanti, Jack Cole, Aston Warwick and Brandon Hamilton - have since been named in the Penrith Panthers' SG Ball side so won't be available for the Laurie Daley Cup
Again that's not a big concern for Hancock, who knows he and his coaching staff will still have some tough decisions to make.
"We have lost those guys, but last week there were guys that filled in for them and went extremely well. I was really happy with what I saw last week from players in those positions, it just gives someone else a bit of an opportunity," he said.
"Those Panthers guys, we are probably going to miss their experience because they'd been doing the Andrew Johns and the Laurie Daley stuff for the last couple of years. But in saying that, one of the good things about the Western Rams is we've got a lot of depth.
"Myself and my coaching staff are going to have to be pretty thorough with everything because everyone is performing really well."
Following this weekend's intra-squad games, the Rams who will be part of the cup campaigns will head into a camp. It's one that Hancock says "makes us different from everyone else."
"We normally go to Burrendong but this year because of the COVID stuff we are going to go to Warren," he said.
"It's a mixture of a bit of fun and a lot of footy, we get them up at four o'clock in the morning and hammer them.
"It's probably the pinnacle of our program, you see which players grow and which players do well under pressure."