ALBURY Thunder coach Josh Cale is hoping last week’s bye has rejuvenated his charges for a late tilt at the Group 9 finals.
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With the club losing six of its last seven matches, Thunder need to find form in a hurry to regain their spot in the top-five.
Cale is desperate to return to the winning list against Tumut at Greenfield Park on Sunday, but admits it will be a difficult assignment against their fourth-placed opponents.
“We put in a really big week on the track leading into the bye and then tapered off a bit this week,” Cale said.
“We have been working hard on the things we needed to fix and hopefully that reflects on the field.
“I’m hoping the bye has helped us reset.
“We had the weekend off and went to the Albury-Wodonga Bandits together as a team and just tried to take a different approach.”
Thunder, who are one point behind fifth-placed Brothers, take on Tumut, Cootamundra, Young and Kangaroos in the run home.
Brothers meet Cootamundra, Young, Kangaroos and Southcity.
“We need to get going again,” Cale said.
“But to be honest, all I’m worried about is playing well on Sunday.
“Even though Young lost to Brothers last weekend, they are a good side and are going to be pretty determined to do well here.
“We will have to be ready for that.”
Tumut coach Jarrad Teka was shattered with last weekend’s 36-20 loss at Twickenham, blaming a poor attitude for the defeat.
“We just didn’t turn up,” Teka said.
“It is as simple as that.
"We started very poorly, Wagga started very good and we got behind on the board and they closed the game out.”
Despite the loss, Teka is far from panicked about where his team is at four weeks out from the finals.
"I said to the boys that it’s not real concerning about what happened to us, it is only a concern if it happens again,” he said.
“The way we respond will give us a good indication of where we are at coming into the back end of the season.”
The Blues are unchanged, although Todd Broad is a chance of returning, and Teka expects to face a desperate Thunder outfit as they fight to move back into the top five.
Junee will come up short against Southcity despite the Bulls being ravaged by injury and unavailability.
Brothers play Cootamundra, Temora host Young and Tumbarumba take on Kangaroos.
