IF IT wasn’t for a five-minute lapse at the end of last weekend’s match against Normanton, the Cloncurry Eagles would be the talk of the Mid-West rugby league.
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It was not to be and the Eagles lost in a nail-biter to the first-placed Wanderers, meaning they now travel to Normanton to take on the Stingers for a place in the August 16 Mid-West rugby league grand final.
Cloncurry defeated Normaton in this fixture two weeks ago, motivating the side that it can go into Normanton and get a result.
“Of course the loss was heartbreaking last weekend but we took a lot of positives from it, and will use those this Saturday,” Eagles coach Ronald Major said. “We know we can beat the Stingers, having beat them two weeks ago without some of our key players.”
Major welcomes back key forwards James Maher and David Hudson this weekend, who will step up in the absence of youngster Tayler Rub.
“I’ll be counting on players like Josh Booth to lead the forward pack with Tayler (Rub) playing,” Major said.
Major knows that defence will be the key for his side winning on Saturday, but his side will also need to put points on the board when it is attacking.
Contrastingly, the Stingers will be hoping their offensive strike-power can be enough to get them over the line.
“We have a few players out this weekend but will be as close to full strength as we have been in weeks,” Stingers coach Sorren Owens said.