The Griffith Blacks won’t gamble on injured players in Saturday’s Southern Inland Rugby Union showdown against Cootamundra in Hay.
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Blacks co-coach Nick Gleeson and Andries De Myer are struggling with shoulder injuries and are set to be rested.
But in a boost for Griffith, barnstorming No.8 Agustin De Notta is likely to make a comeback after returning from an overseas trip.
Gleeson said the Argentinian was one of the Blacks’ standout early season performers.
“He was best on ground for our first three games,” he said.
“He’s been overseas for a month or so, so we’ll definitely look at giving him some minutes now that he’s back.
“He was killing it early on.”
If all players find something approaching their best form, the Blacks are almost certain to run up a healthy score against bottom-placed Cootamundra.
The Tricolours have endured a wretched season to date and are winless after 10 rounds.
Defence has been Cootamundra’s biggest problem, the wooden spoon favourites conceding an average of 56.7 points a game.
The Blacks should win well and earn a couple of bonus points in the process on Saturday, but Gleeson doesn’t want his players distracted by the prospect of a sizeable score.
The competition splits after the weekend, with the top six teams to contest the Walsh and Blair Cup for the rest of the year.
Griffith are third on the ladder and in no danger of dropping out of the top tier, but Gleeson said that was no excuse to slacken off against Cootamundra.
“Against these teams that we should win against, we’ve just got to practice keeping to our structures and not taking them lightly and getting carried away,” he said.
“We won’t know who we’re playing or where we’ll be playing after this week.
“We don’t know what the story is, but we’ve got to put that out of our mind and make sure we get the win while playing one of the lower teams.
“After this week, it’ll be pretty good opposition every week.”
As well as earning the competition points, Gleeson said the Blacks wanted to produce a good performance in Hay, which came on board as the club’s reserve grade team this year.
“It (playing in Hay) is something a bit different,” he said.
“We’ve been playing with the Hay boys all year and we’re starting to get to know them pretty well.
“I know a few of the boys are planning on staying out there and making a night of it.”