North Wagga assistant coach Lachlan Steward declares minor premiership battle with Marrar as important as a final

In a scheduler’s dream, the Saints and Bombers will decide the minor premiership at Langtry Oval with both having lost just one game all season.

The winner will earn a break on the first weekend of finals while the loser will go into a qualifying final against a refreshed Temora who have a bye this weekend.

“It’s 100 percent a final for us,” Steward said. “Whoever wins gets the week off and if you don’t win, you go straight into another hard game. For a mature footy team, having a week off is a good thing.”

A slight hamstring concern a fortnight ago saw Steward miss last week’s game against The Rock-Yerong Creek, when the Saints racked up their 12^th straight win of the season, but he’s ready to tackle the Bombers.

“I’ve done a fair bit of rehab to have it right. I trained on Tuesday and it’s feeling pretty good,” he said.

It was just the second game Steward has missed since joining the Saints as a co-assistant coach (alongside forward Daniel Jordan) under Kirk Hamblin. 

A three-time premiership player at Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong, the 29-year-old has enjoyed the leadership role at a new club and can't wait for his first finals series since 2014.

”It’s pretty exciting, it’s good to be back playing in the finals,” he said. “The coaching role probably hasn’t improved my footy but I’ve really enjoyed being there with DJ and Kirk. It makes you look at the game in different ways and the ways you can try to better the guys around you.”

That includes his fellow midfielders, Jake May and Tom Bennetts, who have thrived under his direction and who Steward is backing to take that form into the business end of the season.

“They’re super players and they just need encouragement to keep taking the game on,” he said. “Every week they have good performances but they’re not being relied on to carry a whole team. They’re going to just keep doing what they've been doing. They’re good players.”

Steward believes that’s been the key to their winning streak – every player knowing exactly what role is required and none having to try to do it all themselves. 

Wingman Josh Thompson is no certainty to return from a calf strain but North Wagga should otherwise be close to full strength. 

The Bombers are set to make six changes with forward Fred Sleeth and midfielder Curtis Allen to play just their second games of the season and Cal Gardner, Jackson Moye, Tyler Cunningham and Brad Langtry to come in.

Backman Mitch Taylor and midfielder Shannon Williams will miss with injury while forward Jason Reid is unavailable. 

“They’re going to be a completely different side to when we played them early in the year,” Steward said.

“They’ve got a few quick players and they’ll be dangerous if we let them get on the outside. They’re very good on the rebound and can hurt you pretty quickly.”

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