LEETON-WHITTON will play their last game of the home and away season on Sunday against a plucky Coolamon outfit.
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The Crows have the bye during the last week of competition before finals, meaning their game on Sunday at Kindra Park is their last one before officially getting their premiership campaign under way.
“It’s a very big game,” Leeton-Whitton coach Jade Hodge said.
“They are a pretty hard team to play, especially over there.
“Coolamon are fifth at the moment I think, but they are basically playing over the next two weeks to keep that spot.
“They are a young side and we’ll definitely need to be on top of our game.”
The Crows have recently put together a string of vital wins that has landed them third position on the ladder.
A win on Sunday and the points from the bye the following week should allow them to hold onto that position for finals.
Hodge said the Crows would have plenty on their side on Sunday afternoon.
“As I said, they are a pretty young team … we’ve got a good mix of experience and youth, so that should hopefully give us an advantage,” he said.
The Crows will welcome back Hugh Collins and Ben Curley for the game, meaning there will be some reshuffling of the team to accommodate them.
“There could be another change or two, but we’ll have to sit down and work that out,” Hodge said.
Kindra Park is a smaller ground, meaning the Crows won’t have to be working as hard or doing as much running with the ball.
Hodge said the focus instead would be on accuracy and consistency. “The last couple of weeks we have been getting more consistent,” he said.
“Our forwards have been playing very well, so hopefully that will continue this weekend. We will need to be accurate with the ball and make sure we’re hitting our targets.”
With the bye looming the week before finals, Hodge said he had put plans in place to ensure there would be no sluggish return to the game the week after.
“We’ll be training on that Saturday to try and counteract not having a game,” Hodge said.