ALBURY Thunder coach Josh Cale is confident his team will hit back strongly from its last-round defeat when it hosts Tumbarumba today.
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Cale said yesterday the Thunder had been sweating on their 16-12 loss to Southcity for the past three weeks and were eager to make amends against the improving Greens.
“Hopefully we can address the mistakes we made,” Cale said.
“The boys are keen to get back into it.
“We weren’t direct enough in the conditions against Southcity and spent too much time going sideways.
“We have spoken about straightening up and playing to our strengths.”
Albury hasn’t played since losing to the Bulls on May 31 and, while the lack of match practice isn’t ideal, the break has enabled the reigning premier to overcome niggles and field its strongest side of the season.
Mitch Davis has overcome a shoulder problem, while Jake Grace is also fresh.
Jon Huggett will start on the bench.
“In the first couple of weeks off we got stuck right into it and put plenty of kilometres into our legs,” Cale said.
“Then we tapered off a bit and looked at our game plan more.”
In other matches, Gundagai and Kangaroos could turn on the closest match of the round at Gundagai.
The Tigers trail their opponents by two points on the ladder and must start stringing together wins under coach Cameron Woo to stay in finals contention.
Tumut could open its winning account against Junee.
The Blues have been knocking on the door for several weeks and, with former coach Jade Williams walking out on Junee, the home team looks set to collect the points.
Southcity should edge out Young.
The Bulls are back in the form that many expected at the start of the season and will be further buoyed by Daniel Fitzhenry’s re-appointment.
Cootamundra will do battle with Temora.