Central West coach Dean Oxley has one message ahead of this weekend’s NSW Country Championship at Port Macquarie – the Blue Bulls are ready.
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In fact, they couldn’t be more ready considering the lengthy preparation they’ve had.
Oxley named the Blue Bulls’ final, 25-man squad after Wednesday night’s last training session at Molong, the culmination of a lead-up which began as soon as Central West won last year’s tier two Richardson Shield.
Since then the extended squad has had countless training sessions along with a number of trial fixtures, a testing preliminary campaign.
“Preparation couldn’t really be any better,” Oxley said.
“I guess the only negative would be the lack of transparency in who has been playing, but we’ve been able to handle any changes because we’ve had an extended squad the whole way through.
“Our last quarter in the first trial against NSW under 20s, it showed we can pull together under pressure. It was the same against the Canberra Royals, then our structure came together in our last trial at the Central Coast, which we won.”
Last year’s win earned the Blue Bulls promotion into the top tier Caldwell Cup, which the region last won in 2014. They’ll face the cream of the crop, starting with last year’s runners-up Newcastle-Hunter.
“They’ve been beaten by Illawarra the last few years in a row, I know they’re ready to go and they’ll always be strong,” Oxley said.
“We understand Newcastle-Hunter and Illawarra are both very strong sides, but we’re here to win the Caldwell Cup and I believe we have the team to do so.”
Six Orange Emus – Tom Goolagong, AJ Sykes, Nick Hughes-Clapp, Lachie Harris, Tom Green and Carter Hirini – headline the squad, which Parkes’ Israel Symington and Forbes’ Jarrod Hall have been added to as late inclusions. Goolagong and Hall are part of a blockbuster front-row rotation, which Oxley said he built the remainder of the squad around.
“Charlie French is a NSW Country prop, Chris Plunkett is an ex-Country prop, so I’m looking forward to seeing them play together,” Oxley explained.
“With them, Tommy Goolagong, Hally and Johnny Mafiti we’ve got a strong front-row and basically we built a side from that, they’re the most critical positions.
“We’ve got some outstanding backs, our forwards can get them the ball in a positive fashion if our game plan comes together.
“It’s all about applying and absorbing pressure,” Oxley said.
“If we can do that, maintain possession, be physical and confrontational, simple things like that will help us get the result.”
Should the Blue Bulls win, they’ll face the victor of Illawarra and Central North in the final. Otherwise, they’ll be playing to remain in the top tier next year. Saturday’s clash kicks off at 11.40am.