Temora hope to make a bold mid-year statement on Saturday when they host ladder leaders East Wagga-Kooringal at the halfway mark of the home and away season.
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Kangaroos coach Jake Wooden wants his team to rise to the occasion against EWK, and avoid the risk of dropping out of the top three after last week's last-minute loss to North Wagga.
The Hawks have only had one loss this year (to Marrar) and bounced back from that in devastating style, coming out and putting 21 goals on The Rock-Yerong Creek last week, in a 76-point win.
"We need to win. We need to beat a top team," Wooden said.
"We haven't beaten Marrar or North Wagga. We believe our best footy's good enough so to give the boys confidence, we need to win Saturday. We don't want to drop out of the top three either.
"Obviously they (EWK) are at the top of the ladder for a reason, they're playing good consistent footy and we're expecting them to come over here and want to keep that form going."
After eight rounds, Temora are third on the ladder, ahead of Marrar on percentage, and one win behind the Hawks and the Saints, who snatched a dramatic victory against the Roos last week.
"We've played some really good footy the last month, it was just last week I thought, to get rolled in the last 40 seconds, we've taken a lot out of that game and hopefully we can rectify it this week," Wooden said.
"I've put it on the boys to learn from our mistakes. It would be disappointing if we didn't, and we dished up what we dished last week."
Specifically, Wooden said their ball use going forward was poor - with their shots at goal far below their forward entries - and failed to allow them to capitalise at times when they were on top in the middle.
He was pleased with their midfield effort last week but knows it too needs to go up a notch this week.
There's double the emphasis on matching the Hawks in the middle, to try to disrupt the service going forward to the league's leading goalkicker Chris Ladhams (38 goals in seven games) as well as Nick Hull, who's tipped to return from injury and has been named on an extended bench.
"We're preparing for them both to play and we're shaping up our best 21 to combat that, but it will be tough," Wooden said.
The Kangaroos also hope for an important inclusion with midfielder Colby Poole (knee) to be given until Saturday to prove his fitness - after being cleared of a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.
But full forward Matt Harpley wasn't named after making a surprise return last week from medial ligament problems, nor defender Liam Pattison (broken nose) who was hoping to return.
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