Finals time arrives early for Ag College

After just missing out on securing their finals berth against second-placed Griffith last week, Aggies have one final shot when they head to Albury to tackle the team trying to knock them out of fourth at Murrayfield on Saturday.

The Blacks scored their lone try of the clash to deny Aggies victory in the last few minutes, and now coach Tom Lamond is looking to build off that performance.

"Pretty much for us it is finals a week early, win and we're through to the semis against Griffith and lose and we're out," Lamond said.

"Last week we played very good footy, something we've been building towards in the last few weeks, so if we play a very similar structure to last week but actually convert our chances."

Lamond was left to rue Ag College's inability to turn possession into points at Beres Ellwood Oval last week.

They had plenty of possession but struggled to match Griffith at the breakdown and also let a couple of good try-scoring opportunities slip.

"I think we dropped three or four balls that we could have scored on," Lamond said.

"If we convert those chances this week we should be right."

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Ag College took a 39-12 win over Albury the last time the two teams met.

However it marked a real shift in the club's season.

They had won five of their first seven games but have won one more in the second half of the season.

Lamond is expecting a much tougher test from the Steamers this time around.

"They've come a long way since the first time we've played them," he said.

"They've got a lot more boys on board helping them out, which is good, but we've also improved as well."

Ag College have made a couple of changes for the clash.

They welcome back Max Gay for the clash.

It was feared the representative centre would miss the remainder of the season with a groin issue but Lamond has been impressed with his progress.

"I think this is week seven with his groin and it was originally a 10-week rehab program but he's been going very well and has done full training the last two weeks so we thought this was the best chance to come back a week before semis," Lamond said.

He's an ideal replacement for the unavailable Ethan Brien.

Prop Harry Cooper is also out with Alex Meades coming into the side.

With both replacements part of the Southern Inland representative team this year, Lamond feels lucky to be able to call up such depth.

"It's not the worst thing to have these replacements this weekend," he said.

Meanwhile Waratahs need to pick up one point when they face CSU to finish in second while minor premiers Wagga City tackle Tumut.

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