The Wagga club not only needs to defeat Southcity at Harris Park on Saturday, but require Albury to down Kangaroos if they are make finals for the first time in seven years.

With their destiny not in their own hands, the Brethren have switched around players in a re-invigoration attempt after successive losses.

Will Merritt comes off the bench and into the second row, pushing James Hay into the front row and Patrick Sagigi goes back to the bench.

But their biggest change has come in the halves.

Aaron Wynne will play at halfback, alongside Peter Little, with Liam Carey going into the centres.

It means Zac Wilson drops to the bench while Joe Legatt is also in at lock.

Coach Terry Westblade said the changes are aimed at creating a better defensive unit.

“We’re trying to stiffen up our defence a little bit and get some new personnel in there,” Westblade said.

“We are looking for a little more direction and more defensive type players in the team.

“We will see how it goes.

“It is a bit late to be making changes but it was kinda needed anyway.

“This is our last throw of the dice so we have to try something.”

 While Brothers need results to go their way, Westblade doesn’t want to focus to far from what they need after losses to Young and Kangaroos in the last two games.

Southcity scored a 42-16 win the last time the two teams met.

That was Westblade’s first game at the helm, and while he knows his team is much better now, he’s very wary of the attacking weapons the Bulls possess out wide.

“We are very mindful of how they beat us last time,” he said. “They got us out wide last time, a lot.

“Hopefully we can stitch it up and being a little bit more solid.

“We are taking the attitude that we want to win the game and it is our last chance.”

While conditions were far from ideal, Westblade remains disappointed with the performance during the 12-8 loss to Kangaroos on Sunday.

He’s hoping the team can play with more freedom in a game they aren’t expected to win.

“I think we were a little bit tensed up thinking we wanted to win games, especially last week, rather than going through the process and letting it unfold,” Westblade said. 

“We tightened up a little bit maybe thinking about the result instead of playing footy so against Southcity it is going to be really important to just enjoy the game and play what is in front of us.”