WANGARATTA Rovers have to rediscover the pressure that yielded some early season success if they hope to topple North Albury, co-coach Sam Carpenter says.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
After winning three of their first five games, the Rovers have crashed to six straight defeats.
It's a streak Carpenter is hoping to end on Saturday afternoon.
“We're looking forward to getting back out on our home ground, it's been a tough couple of weeks,” he said.
“While we haven't been able to get a win, I feel like our form has been reasonable over the last month.
“We're looking forward to getting a crack at the Hoppers, it's an opportunity and a challenge for us.
“We'll do everything we can to get a win.”
Carpenter said pressuring the Hoppers’ young guns was an absolute must if they were to come away with the points.
“When we were playing well, our work-rate was up and our tackling and general pressure was really high,” he said.
“That's where we have to start against North Albury, we need to get back to basics a little bit.”
While the Rovers have had a bit of luck with Hoppers captain Rory Feltwell out through injury, they'll have their hands full in the backline with Josh Minogue returning from the VFL.
“We just have to get our match-ups right, hopefully we get put our good players in a position to have a good game,” Carpenter said.
“We need to try and limit the influence of guys like Shaun Mannagh, he can be very dangerous when he gets forward of the ball.
“They've got some handy players up there, Lachie Taylor-Nugent and a few others spring to mind.”
The bounce is at 2pm at W.J. Findlay Oval.
