Farrer League
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A LACK of goals is threatening to unravel North Wagga's premiership assault but the coach isn't pointing the finger of blame at his forwards.
In their last three outings, the Saints have returned a collective 13.30.
They snuck home against Marrar in a low-scoring affair a fortnight ago but have lost to Northern Jets and East Wagga-Kooringal to round out the month.
North Wagga's forward line had no answers for the Hawks defence at the weekend as the latter ran away to win by 10 goals.
Rather than question his goal-kickers, however, coach Nathan Dowdle says it is the players further down the ground which need to lift their game.
"All year we have struggled with our delivery into the forward line and it's something we really need to look at," Dowdle said.
"I don't think the issue is the forwards.
"It's guys choosing the wrong option going forward, kicking to a short 50-50 or just making poor decisions.
"There's no doubt our forwards need to work harder to take marks inside 50, because that was basically non-existent against East Wagga.
"There's a chance we will look at a couple of different avenues to goal but I think the main problem is our delivery and decision making."
"All year we have struggled with our delivery into the forward line and it's something we really need to look at,"
- Nathan Dowdle
North Wagga has a tough run home, with trips to Coleambally and Temora highlighting the remaining four rounds, and Dowdle will use the coming month to eradicate the current issues before finals.
The Saints start with hosting The Rock-Yerong Creek at McPherson Oval tomorrow.
Their midfield will take a hit as young onballer Corey Watt becomes unavailable.
Watt has been one of the form players of the Farrer League season to date and will be hard to replace in North Wagga's midfield, but Dowdle is considering bolstering the backline instead.
Young reserve grade players Harry Grentell and Brad Curtis are both in line for a promotion to fill Watt's spot.
"Both those guys have been pushing for a spot so we'll make the call tonight (last night)," Dowdle said.
"We lost a lot of our run last week, we looked a bit slow and tried in the legs, so we want to try to get that back in our game."
North Wagga will celebrate three premiership reunions with a function after the game tomorrow night.
The Saints will mark the 1994 first grade flag and the 1994 and 2004 reserve grade titles.
