RUGBY LEAGUE
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When it comes to the semi-finals, the team with the momentum generally does well.
At the moment the Mudgee Dragons don’t have that momentum nor are they playing semi-final football.
But with three games remaining until the silly season it’s time for the red V to shake off this form slump.
After 10 consecutive wins, the Dragons have done a 180 and recorded three losses on the trot.
Their latest was against Cowra where they fought back from a 19-6 deficit to lose 25-22 at Sid Kallas Oval.
Although the team’s leaders might not think it’s panic stations, the pressure is certainly heating up with four points the difference between first and fifth.
Mudgee does have the inside running with two home games and a bye to come but any more hiccups like the ones there have been the past three weeks, then the “what’s wrong with Mudgee?” questions will remain.
“It is a pretty vital game,” said Dragons’ co-captain Jeremy Lang about Sunday’s match with Oberon Tigers at Glen Willow Stadium.
You would not have thought otherwise if you looked at the competition table.
Mudgee are on top with 22 points and Oberon in eighth on nine points, and in a three-way battle for the wooden spoon.
But like this Group 10 season has shown, stranger things can happen.
The Tigers roared back to life with a win over the second-placed Bathurst St Pat’s and if Mudgee aren’t careful, they could become Oberon’s second big name victim.
Remember, the Tigers twice ended Mudgee’s season in 2012 and 2013.
“They have a good side with a few good players,” Lang said.
“In the game earlier in the year they put on 18 points in 15 minutes.”
But Lang said the Dragons were getting back to the type of football that helped them go on their best winning run since 1986.
“The second half [against Cowra] we were back to where we want to be.”
Like Jared Robinson, Lang is relishing the opportunity of being Dragons’ co-captain.
After playing several seasons for Port Macquarie Sharks and representing Group Two, Lang returned to the Dragons in 2012 and hasn’t looked back.
“It has been good to be more of a leader in the team. I have enjoyed doing it,” he said.
His halves pairing with Tim Condon has been a key to Mudgee’s success.
But Lang knows more work needs to be done especially with the semi-finals around the corner.
“We want to finish well and our goal is to win two of those big games,” he said.
“It [the minor premiership] is in the back of their [players] minds but we have plenty of footy to go.”
There won’t be an under 18s match on Sunday as Oberon don’t have a team.
The schedule has changed with first division to kick off first at 11.30am followed by women’s league tag at 12.45pm. Premier league begins at 1.45pm.