Steamers’ coach Paul Musarra says there’s no chance of complacency creeping in for Saturday’s away game against winless Wagga City.
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The Border outfit is on the verge of returning to finals after a three-year absence.
“We won’t be treating them like a lower team,” Musarra said.
“We work on how we’re going to be playing come finals time.
“We’re going to be trying a couple of patterns with basically our defence structure and our attitude.
“You can’t move the ball left to right without any idea of what you’re doing, you’ve got to stick to your patterns, so you’ve got to play as though you’re playing a top side.”
The Steamers are coming off a 45-17 hiding of Tumut, while Wagga City was hammered 97-12 by Ag College.
The visitors will be without at least four top-liners.
“Rossouw Visser’s still going to be out for another week, he strained a medial ligament about three weeks ago,” Musarra said.
“James Devlin tweaked a hamstring last week, so we’re going to rest him this weekend.”
“Arran Macdougall is still struggling with a thigh, he’ll be another week and our winger Simon Clements is unavailable.”
Richie Manion returned last week on the wing, but he’ll move to inside centre against the Boiled Lollies.
The Steamers sit in fifth spot on 33 points with six wins and five losses, as well as a draw, while Wagga City has racked up 12 losses.
The visitors will be chasing a big win before tackling second-bottom CSU in the final round.
The Steamers have an outside chance of moving up the ladder in the final fortnight.
Third-placed Ag College has 38 points, while Tumut has 36.
Ag College faces one team in the top five and one outside, while fourth-placed Tumut meets two teams outside the five in Griffith and Wagga City.
The Steamers haven’t played a final since the 2015 premiership.