The fight for a top three finish will take centre stage when Waratahs and Tullibigeal Lake Cargelligo face off at Exies Oval on Sunday.
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While the Waratahs can’t reach second with TLU three points ahead, they are vulnerable to teams behind as they are only two points in front of West Wyalong back in fifth.
Coming off the bye Waratahs’ coach Chris Hanneman feels his team are in a good position.
“We had a pretty good turn out at training on Tuesday and the boys are looking fresh,” he said.
“It will be a good test and was a pretty close game the last time we played them.”
Hanneman is aware of the threats the Sharks possess and how his side will have to deal with them.
“Their main asset is their halves,” he said.
“They have a lot of experience in Group 20 and we will need to keep them quiet.
“If our forwards can get a roll on hopefully that will limit their impact on the game.”
This is the start of a tough run into the finals as after Lakes, the Waratahs will take on West Wyalong.
“Semi final footy comes pretty early for us,” he said.
“Hopefully we can continue from where we left off before the bye and not get too complacent and play the footy we know we can.”
For TLU this is their final game before the finals as they have the bye in the next round which coach James Williams feels is great timing.
“We couldn’t have it a better time,” he said.
“We have a couple of injuries to some key players, so it will be good to have the rest before finals.”
As for this weeks opposition, Williams knows they cannot be taken lightly.
“They have been the dark horse of the competition,” he said.
“They have hit a bit of form in the second half of the season.
“We could be meeting two weeks later, so it will be good to get one over them.”
Williams has sent a warning out to the rest of the competition as he feels his team still has room to improve before finals.
The action will get start with the under 16s at 11.15am with 1st grade set to start at 3pm.