Dalby head south in search of six appeal
RUGBY LEAGUE: Two months ago serious questions were being asked about Dalby’s premiership credentials.
Fast forward to mid-July where the Diehards are sitting in third and riding the momentum of a five-game winning streak.
Tonight they head to Goondiwindi to take on the Boars, who they narrowly defeated by two points back in round nine, and coach Derek Brady knows they are a bigger threat than their two season wins suggests.
“We made a hard job of it at home in the first round and we’re not taking them lightly this week,” Brady said.
“They are a tough side, and although they’re near the bottom their for and against says they stay in the game for the full 80. They don’t have too many points scored against them so we will be showing them a lot of respect.
“They’ve got the big outback weekend so they will have a huge home crowd with a couple of thousand, and they’re likely to stick around for the A grade so they’ll be in for a big game.”
Dalby’s strong form has propelled them into frontrunners to land a major semi-final berth, but Brady said that isn’t in the forefront of their minds.
“We’ve been managing to keep the same 15-16 players for the last five weeks, which has been our best period of footy (this season),” he said.
“If we can maintain that we will hold up pretty well. We’ve slowly been improving since these five wins and every facet has slowly been improving.
“It’s (finishing in the top three) in the backs of our minds.
“We’re not really focusing on that but more or less improving way we have been playing. If we do the results will be in our favour.”
While an injury cloud hangs over Central Crows forward Jason Wardrop heading into the semi finals, the Diehards received an unexpected boost with the return of premiershipwinning captain Colin Green from retirement.
“Jason is still doubtful. He’s floating around the 50 per cent mark to get back for the semi finals,” he said.
“He had a posterior ligament tear and hasn’t got the flexibility, but he is doing everything to get back out there.
“Colin come out to watch us against Highfields and to catch up with the boys.
“He got in before the June 30 cut off date. We had six out against Warwick and we managed to secure him for that.”