Jade Hodge says patience, not panic, is the key to Coleambally despite winless start

Amid high hopes of a successful season, the Blues didn't plan to be heading to Temora in May for a battle to get off the mark, and off the bottom of the ladder.

Key forward Jade Hodge says they're keeping the stress levels under control.

"As far as the form goes, I'm not too worried about that. I think we'll slowly start to turn it around," Hodge said.

"We've got a lot of new players, we haven't done a lot together and we're working out how each other plays.

"As a coaching group we're trying to get the mix right, which is the key."

In his three years in charge at Leeton-Whitton, Hodge took the Crows to three finals series, two grand finals and one premiership.

His experience is valuable at Coleambally, where he's an assistant to Luke Hillier and Curtis Steele, and said he's thoroughly enjoyed the switch to the tight-knit community club.

"It's not a great start to the season but we're definitely not panicking," Hodge said.

"We can turn it around. We've got the cattle there it's just getting that right mix and finding a bit of form. Hopefully we can do that this weekend."

Steele had declared last week's home game against North Wagga a must-win but those hopes were blown out of the water early as the Saints opened with a 6.1 first term on the way to an 84-point thrashing.

They certainly need a victory this weekend, and some consistent football. Last week was a write-off, Hodge said, and Blues turnovers created the majority of opportunities for Saints' goals.

In the first two rounds, they've not been good enough for anywhere near long enough.

"You can see the ability is there... but everything that we've done, we've only done in 10 or 15 minutes of football," Hodge said.

"We've got the ability to score quickly but we've got to work on our defensive aspects. Defensively we're not quite there.

"We've thrown some new structures at the boys which a lot of them have never seen before. As people know, working on your defensive efforts and full group presses and stuff, it only takes a little bit to be out and you become very easy to score against.

"On the flip side, if you get it right, you can be very hard to score against. So there's a fine line between being really good and very poor in that aspect.

"But the signs are there that if we do it for long periods of time and we're consistent, we're going to be a good side.... I think we'll be fine with just a few little tweaks."

Hodge says they've 'gone away from the long kick up the line' but will need to improve their ball movement.

The return of Tom Groves will help although the Blues remain without Dan Peruzzi (ankle).

Temora have their own issues, with Rob Grant out for up to six weeks with a broken collarbone and fellow backman Riley Hubbard to miss at least this week with a knee injury.

Jason Reid and Tyler Moye are also out but ruckman Grant Haigh and coach Jake Wooden come in as they too search for a win to open their account after losses to North Wagga and East Wagga-Kooringal (and a bye in between).

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