North Wagga will go ‘back to basics’ against Charles Sturt University on Saturday with coach Kirk Hamblin expecting a return to form in time for finals next week.
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The Saints are assured a top three finish but are coming off the bye and have won just one game since July 1.
“It’s a huge game for us,” Hamblin said. “Finals starts now for us. We’ve had a really ordinary month of football (but) I feel the wheel’s starting to turn in our favour.
“The way we trained was a lot better than it has been, attitude’s better.
“I’m just after a big effort, going back to the basic things that made us a good team at the start of the year.”
North Wagga belted CSU by 15 goals last time, including kicking 13 to none in the second quarter at Peter Hastie Oval.
“It was pretty even for three quarters,” Hamblin said. “In that one quarter, I think it came back to us winning pretty much every centre clearance and got the ball into our forward line quickly.”
In an unlikely move, Hamblin has been named at full-forward for the game at McPherson Oval.
“We thought we’d change things up a little bit,” he said. “It’ll give some other blokes who have been playing some pretty good footy on-ball a good opportunity to improve their leadership skills.
“And we want to try and put on a bit more forward line pressure.”
Full-back Brayden Skeers will return next week.
Meanwhile, Marrar have five changes for their game against Barellan with Matt Parks, Brad Moye, Shannon Williams, Geoff Spriggs and Jeremy Rowe all sidelined. Jason Reid and Cal Gardner are also still to return.
