TALENTED midfielder Max Lysaght will make his club debut for Tolland against his old team, Wagga United, at Rawlings Park on Sunday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Lysaght will make his first appearance of the season for the Wolves in Sunday's high-stakes clash and his debut just happens to fall against his former club.
Tolland were replaced on top of the Pascoe Cup ladder by Henwood Park last week, while Wagga United continue to push some of the top teams without getting the breakthrough result they are after.
Lysaght will be welcome relief for Tolland, who have been hit hard by injury in the past fortnight.
Alex Rudd loosk set to miss the season with a hamstring injury, while promising youngster Fawaz Baqi is also out with a hamstring strain.
Wolves captain Jaiden Watson was also only used sparingly off the bench last Sunday due to injury so coach Joel Irlam is happy to bring Lysaght in.
"He came across from Wagga United last year and ironically it's Wagga United that we play this weekend," Irlam said.
"He strengthens the squad, which is good news. We've been waiting a couple of weeks for him to be back."
Irlam also hopes to be able to start Watson on Sunday.
"I'd probably preferred not to use him at all (last week) but I was getting a bit skinny on my bench and he was keen so i used him sparingly," Irlam said.
"I'm hoping he's available the whole game this week."
Irlam was not too disheartened by last Sunday's 4-0 loss in the top of the table clash. He concedes the Hawks are the benchmark but explained the Wolves were severely undermanned.
"Look, to be brutally honest, and I don't like to hide behind excuses, but we lost three of our stronger players in the game the week before against South Wagga to injuries," he said.
"Against Henwood Park unfortunately I was patching holes. The team we put on the field against Henwood Park was only a mere resemblence of the teams we put on the paddock the week before and the week before.
"Like I said, I don't like to hide behind excuses, we had our chances but if I'm being really honest, it was nowhere near our strongest team."
Sunday's game may be second versus sixth but there is no way Tolland will be taking Wagga United lightly.
Irlam said the nature of this year's competition means there is few games that are a given.
"We talked about it briefly on Tuesday and we'll talk about it again tonight but we can't afford to underestimate anyone," he said.
"South Wagga maybe as an aside but everyone else in the competition we have to take on as if they are a very strong side and are likely to beat us. We have to have that attitude with everyone we play.
"Wagga United had a strong result against Henwood Park and a strong result against Lake Albert so they're definitely someone we have to make sure we're at the top of our game if we want to come away with a result. If we're not, we could have a result like we did last week."
All of Sunday's games are scheduled for Rawlings Park.
READ MORE