Take a look on the edge of or just outside the Group 11 top five and, on any given glance, you can spot the following – misfiring squads, not a lot of belief and a stack of excuses.
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In many cases, both Forbes and Nyngan fit that bill perfectly.
The Magpies have gone from winning the competition in 2016 to, potentially, missing the finals all together just 18 months on while the Tigers roared to last year’s decider but have battled a premiership hangover throughout April and May – without the premiership to show for it.
But, for all the misfiring and lack of belief, you won’t find one thing in either camp.
There’s no excuses.
Instead, when the Magpies and Nyngan clash at Spooner Oval on Sunday, Forbes mentor Cameron Greenhalgh and his Tigers counterpart Jacob Neill see opportunity.
“I still rate our forward pack as being the best in the competition,” Greenhalgh said.
“I’ve got a playing group here that can win any game on any given day, they just need to start believing in themselves, until they do that it won’t happen.”
One of those players leading the highly touted Magpies pack is Ben Maguire, the dynamic, hole-running back-rower that’s turned into a work-a-holic prop.
Greenhalgh believes, despite Maguire being arguably the best wide-running back-rower in Group 11, his place in this Forbes team is in the middle of the field.
“He likes to play in the middle, but wherever you play Benny he’s going to be a handful,” he said.
“That’s up to me to see whats best for the side.”
Neill said the Tigers have been guilty of letting too many close games slip already this season – last round’s 26-all draw with the Raiders one of those – and said the visiting Tigers were keen to turn close losses into important wins in the coming weeks.
After Sunday’s game at Forbes, four of the club’s next five fixtures are at Larkin Oval – a run Neill says the club can capatilise on.
“We've probably let a couple of games slip now that we should have won, and that's disappointing but … it’s definitely not over, we're still only one point out of the top five and we've got a lot of teams to come back out home,” a defiant Neill said.
“We can only get better when we've got guys that come back from injuries.”
The Tigers will be hoping to welcome back gun rake Reece Goldsmith for Sunday’s trip to Forbes, while the hosts are expected to trot out exciting young fullback Charlie Staines.
“We need to get a win just as much as them so it makes for a good Sunday afternoon at the footy,” Neill added.
Sunday’s footy kicks off with league tag from 11am.