Aggies search for way forward

After suffering one of the worst defeats in the club’s history when they failed to score a point against the ladder leaders before the bye, Ag College’s forward pack will be without some of their best players.

Captain Ben Leaper, representative prop Tom Dunstan, Chris Leaper and Tom Macleay are all unavailable for the clash with the second place team.

With half the forward pack missing, the challenge to take on Leeton is even harder.

The Phantoms suffered their first loss of the year at Albury but are coming off a solid win over Waratahs two weeks ago.

After a game to forget for the club, coach Nick McCarthy is looking to put the nightmare performance behind them.

“We got comprehensively outplayed by the best rugby team I’ve seen play in Southern Inland and didn’t go with them in any position,” McCarthy said.

“They started the game very red hot, scored an intercept try and a couple of good tries and before we knew it they were out of the game.”

After witnessing how the Steamers were able to dismantle his team, McCarthy doesn’t believe any other club will be able to stop them this season.

With speed to burn out wide, smart playmakers and forwards doing the damage up front the border team look the complete package two weeks out from the semi-finals.

“They are a classy side and I can’t see them being touched for the rest of the season,” McCarthy said.

“We have quite a young team and it was the first time the majority of our boys have been exposed to rugby of that intensity, the speed and that physicality.”

Despite the heavy loss, Aggies remain a mathematical chance to qualify for the finals, currently nine points adrift of Tumut.

With the door slightly ajar, McCarthy is looking to use that as a motivating factor to lift the club from the goldrums following the heavy defeat to the Steamers.

“It’s a chance for us to redeem ourselves,” McCarthy said. “While we are still a mathematical chance we will still keep on keeping on until the end.”

McCarthy played for the club when it was inflicted an even bigger loss by Waratahs more than a decade ago but the club has come a long way since then.