Albury Thunder faces Young in Group Nine rugby league elimination final

In remarkable circumstances, the Thunder finished in the league's top five, despite posting only four wins from its 12 games, with just two in the past four months.

The Thunder received four byes, while Gundagai had only two, to snare fifth place.

The visitors will start massive underdogs away to Young today.

"No, no, no, not by a long shot, I don't play football to just make up the numbers, it's too tough a game," pacy winger Keanau Wighton replied when quizzed if the club would struggle to make an impact, given its record.

Wighton played in the club's last final against Tumut in 2019.

COVID had a major impact on 2020-2021 and the club missed finals last year.

The Thunder started the season in style with upset wins over preliminary finalists Tumut and premiers Gundagai.

"To be honest, we're in a better position than we were when we beat them," Wighton suggested.

"We didn't have (tough prop) Sam Collins against Tumut and we were missing other players as well.

"We've found our mojo, we've found a really good balance with our positional changes, like Lachy Munro has returned to fullback and he's unreal, he reads the play better than anyone.

"We're a real threat."

IN THE NEWS:

The Thunder suffered its first loss to Young in round three, where strong winger Boro Navori posted a hat-trick of tries, but the visitors produced a gritty effort, despite a host of injuries, in falling only 30-24 last month.

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