Group Nine’s leading tryscorer, Damian Willis, will be cooling his heels on the sidelines after breaking his hand in the win over Cootamundra on Saturday.
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Willis will miss four to six weeks after coming off second best in the 76-12 win.
Despite sustaining the break in the first half, he played out the game, including completing his hat-trick with the injury, to rise to the top of the tryscorers list.
Willis has crossed for 15 tries so far, one more than Tigers teammate Dane O’Hehir, including eight in the last three rounds.
Gundagai captain-coach James Smart said his loss will be a big blow.
“His last three games, especially, have been really, really good so it is disappointing to lose him when he is in such good form,” Smart said.
“But I know he will work hard and when he does come back he will be raring to do."
While there is no exact game in sight just yet, Willis is expected to be back before the Tigers start their finals campaign.
Noa Fotu has moved into the centres for the clash with Young at Alfred Oval on Sunday with Charlie Barton slotting back onto the wing.
Smart is confident both will step up to the mark.
“I’m happy for Noa to be getting a little bit closer to the ball because he has been really good for us since he’s come back from injury,” he said. “And it gives another opportunity for Charlie Barton to get some first grade experience.”
Young sits third and their draw with Southcity last week enabled the Tigers to leapfrog the Bulls and move into top spot.
Gundagai scored a 48-14 win over their rivals to start the season, but Smart expects a much tougher test.
“It will be a tough game over there and obviously in round one when we played them I don’t think they were really prepared,” he said.
"They’d lost two pretty key players a week or two before he played them which threw them out quite a bit before they’ve showed some real improvement over the last few weeks.”
With more confidence from the dramatic 26-all draw with Southcity, Cherrypickers captain-coach James Woolford is also expecting a better showing.
“It is in the back of all the players mind, we know we went up there and they embarrassed us a little bit, but we are a whole new team coming into this week,” Woolford said.
“We are a lot better than what we were round one, a lot more organised, playing a lot better footy and a lot more confident in ourselves so we will be right come Sunday.”
The Cherrypickers could also be light on in the backs, with Jack Bush (ankle) and Nayah Freeman (shoulder) in doubt for the clash.