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Griffith Blacks are steeling themselves for a tense showdown against Albury when the two teams bump heads on Saturday.
The pressure is on for Griffith Blacks, who need to win Saturday's home game if they want to have a decent shot at glory in the Southern Inland Rugby Union competition.
Coach Craig Morris said the team knew they had everything to win and everything to lose as they head into the weekend.
"There's a lot on the line," Morris said.
He said he was confident in the team's explosive early game and solid late game, but needed to shore up their defenses when it came to the mid-game.
The team has been working on their general fitness in a bid to prevent mid-game fatigue and maintain a consistently strong level of play.
They players are going back to the basics, working on their communication and core skills to ensure no easy points slip past them.
Morris said he was expecting the team to show Albury their A-game, especially with a number of strong players coming back after being unable to make last week's match against Wagga City.
Despite an impressive early game, Griffith Blacks ended up losing 40 - 33 to Wagga City.
Morris gave special props to last week's "man of the match" Johnny Brown, who put on a "terrific" performance from the side even though it was his first time playing on the wings.
He also gave a shoutout to Lafa Lale, congratulating him for keeping his fitness up and showing consistently strong play throughout the season.
"Big Lafa has been really good for the team this year," Morris said.
Heading into Saturday's tough match, Morris said the team would need to watch out for Albury's strong scrum and big, heavy forwards players.
"Albury are always a pretty good side," Morris said.
But he said the Griffith Blacks had been giving their all during training sessions, which has been pulling in good numbers in the leadup to the Albury match.
It's going to be an action packed Saturday, with Wagga against CSU, WAC versus Tumut, and Leeton squaring off against the Waratahs.
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