RIVERINA FOOTBALL LEAGUE
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HE MAY be small in stature, but Wagga Tigers forward Nick Ryan is standing tall when his team needs him most.
Ryan is in brilliant touch as Tigers make their charge towards September and their top-three chances go will be on the line when they take on Coolamon at Kindra Park on Sunday.
While Tigers have struggled for key forward targets, it has been their smalls, like Ryan, that have been behind their winning scores.
Ryan, 20, is in his third season in first grade and is Tigers' man of the moment.
He kicked six goals in a best-on-ground performance against Narrandera last month and has been named in Tigers' top two players in the past fortnight.
"I've been happy with the year so far," Ryan said.
"I've got to try and keep it up."
Ryan injured his ankle during the pre-season and missed the first couple of rounds.
He has since played eight senior games for 14 goals and five appearances in Tigers' best.
Ryan says his role is simple.
"I'm playing as a crumbing forward and the main role is to apply pressure," he said.
"Try not to let the ball come out too easy and put as much pressure on the opposition as possible."
A win on Sunday will see Tigers replace Coolamon in the top three.
The Hoppers beat Tigers at Roberson Oval earlier in the year, prevailing by 11 points in a scrappy affair.
Ryan believes Tigers are playing better footy now.
"As the year goes ahead we're playing a lot better footy," he said.
"It's been good, I think we're starting to gel together as a team now, it takes a while.
"We've had about 30-odd different players play first grade too, which makes it hard to play as a group when there is so many in and out every week.
"We've got to play four quarters. In the games we have lost it's either that we dropped off in the last quarter, or have lapse in the third, the quarters that matter."
Coolamon got back in the winner's list with a 11-point win over Griffith last week.
The Hoppers were belted for consecutive weeks befoer that.
Ryan rates Coolamon highly, despite recent results.
"All year, we've said Coolamon is still the team to beat," he said.
"Especially out there, they'll be hard but I reckon we can do it.
"We've talked about it ever since we were beaten by them earlier in the year so we'll be out to get a win that's for sure."