The bragging rights of Leeton Shire go on the line this weekend as the Leeton Greens prepare to face off against Yanco-Wamoon at Leeton No 1 Oval on Sunday afternoon.
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The Hawks are coming into the game off the back of a strong showing against one of the premiership favourites in Tullibigeal Lake Cargelligo and in the weeks before had secured their first two wins of the season.
Yanco-Wamoon coach Nick Punteriero felt his boys were ready to bring home the bragging rights.
“This is like a mini grand final for us,” he said.
“Especially going up against a few of our old boys who moved over to the Greens and everybody knowing each other it will be good to have the bragging rights until the next time we meet.”
Despite only having the two wins so far this season, Punteriero is happy with how his side have been performing.
“We can stick it with the top teams for 60 minutes but just can’t quite get there over the full game,” he said.
“We are still pretty confident we can make the top five and I think we are pretty close to finding our form so it should hold us in good stead for the second half of the season.”
The introduction of Chance Tauri has given the Hawks a bit of a spark, and his coach is confident he will bring his best on Sunday.
“He has fitted in really well,” he said.
‘He missed about a year with injuries, but I think the local derby will really suit him.”
The Greens, on the other hand, we flying heading into the break having won four of their last five games before the June long weekend bye. Leeton coach Clinton Green hopes the week off hasn’t halted his side’s progress.
“After having a few tough games in a row we gave the guys a week off last week and had a light run on Monday,” he said.
“We have gotten ourselves in the right position after our bye; I just hope the week off hasn’t affected us too much.”
Green knows where the most significant threat is coming from the Hawks.
“I think it will come down to their halves,” he said.
“Andrew Smith and Shannon Bradbrook are their two key players. Troy Preston has been scoring tries off Smith so whoever has the job on that pair will be in for a busy day.”