Rugby league
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THE best way to solve a problem like star Southcity Bulls recruit Shaun Ainscough is to cut it off at the source.
That's the way Darlington-Point Coleambally boss Andrew Herbert is looking at tonight's daunting match-up with the Group 9 heavyweights at the West Wyalong Knockout.
Traditionally a strong side at the worst of times, the Bulls pulled off a massive coup for country footy by signing Ainscough, a former first-grader with English Super League sides Wigan and Bradford who now has genuine NRL ambitions.
Still only 23, the winger has a reputation as a try-scoring machine after going over an amazing 16 times in his first 10 professional games.
Herbert knows if the Roosters are any chance at the annual pre-season competition, shutting down Ainscough will be key.
"If he busts the line he's going to be pretty hard to stop, obviously," Herbert said.
"We just need to stop that ball from going out to him and slow things down.
"If he's new to the club, he'll be wanting to get his hands on the ball a fair bit and wingers don't really pass much, so I'm thinking we swoop on him whenever he tries to get the ball.
"They're a high-class side that's used to playing with a lot of structure and a really fast style.
"But if you can break that up and bring them down to boring old footy, teams like that go into a bit of a rut and don't know what to do when it hits them.
"That's how a few sides beat them last year in Group 9."
DPC will unveil a couple of new recruits of their own at West Wyalong, in the form of English forward Sam Dalby and returning junior product Nick Briggs.
"We've got lots of keen blokes ready to go," Herbert said.
"I tried to put a side together last Thursday and it was so hard we've been getting 30 to 40 blokes at training.
"It overwhelms you a bit because you want to give everyone a run.
"We've got about half a dozen first-graders missing but it's good to be able to try guys out here and there and get a bit of depth.
"It's a massive pre-season one of the biggest I've ever seen, I reckon, so that's pretty important."