Restoring pride important as Blacks head to Leeton to take on rivals

The Blacks suffered one of their biggest defeat in recent memory against Ag College before the week off, and coach Mitch White said there was a lot of self-reflection that happened over the break.

"I think everyone is keen to pick everything up and do a fair bit better than we did," he said.

"We acknowledged what went wrong against Ag College and put a lot in place over the last two weeks with the bye to correct the things that went wrong over in Wagga.

"We probably lost a bit of the pride in the defeat, but the first-grade guys had a good look at themselves, and they have all acknowledged that they are going to have to work hard for it."

Heading over the Leeton to take on their nearest rivals, White is happy to see the clash return to first grade after the Phantoms were missing from first grade in the last couple of seasons.

"The competition is always better when you have Leeton in there. They normally have a strong side, and we look forward to it," he said.

"It's hard to see where everyone is sitting in the competition at the moment and they have had some mixed results, but no doubt they will be strong at home."

Despite what has been a difficult run for the Blacks, the feeling around the group remains positive.

"Everyone is still keen, and we haven't seen numbers dwindling at training or anything like that," he said.