Southern Inland Rugby Union
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WARATAHS have packed in the changes ahead of the premier division preliminary final against Albury at Murrayfield today.
Coach Hugh Palmer has made three changes to his forward pack, bringing in relatively new faces as he looks to keep the season alive.
George Last, who has been playing a mix of second and third grade since joining the club this season, will step up to first grade for the first time.
Palmer has brought himself into second row alongside Last, with Hamish Cullenward also coming in at flanker.
Cullenward has split his time between firsts and seconds, but with Dylan Galt struggling to manage injuries in the run into the finals he has been given the nod.
The 'Tahs back line remains unchanged, but Palmer wanted to make changes to the forward pack to address the Steamers' experience edge.
Originally from Cootamundra, Last has also played for Orange before moving to Wagga this year and linking with the Waratahs.
"He came with the intentions of just punting around, but he's too good of player to leave out at this time of the year," Palmer said.
"It's a bit of experience and starch to the pack, a bit of weight so we can really regain our scrum dominance.
"I suppose it was a bit of a cornerstone to our season and a big part of why we were minor premiers."
With Matt Meggison unavailable, brother Rob will drop to the bench to make way for the reinforcements.
Cullenward has been brought in for his defensive attributes.
Trialling the new system at training on Wednesday, Palmer said it felt good and thought it would relieve some of the leadership pressure from Jock Munro.
Palmer is looking to get back to his forwards setting a good platform for the back line to start their attacking raids.
"Putting experienced guys like myself and George Last in the team defensively will add quite a bit in the physicality," he said.
"That's what we are aiming to do as the Steamers play a similar game style to us and we need similar players to counteract them."
Palmer will have plenty of selection headaches next week if the Waratahs succeeds today, as the second grade has already progressed to the grand final.