Group 10 coach Graeme Osborne said he is not concerned with the lack of game time for Mudgee try-scoring machine Corin Smith after he was selected in the 24-man train-on squad this week.
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Smith made his comeback to top grade football in the Dragons’ loss to Lithgow Workies on Sunday after undergoing off-season shoulder surgery.
Despite being short of match fitness, he showed glimpses of what he is capable of and that was enough for Osborne, as he named Smith and three other Mudgee players in the extended squad.
“I spoke with (Mudgee coach) Jack (Afamasaga) when I was up there on Sunday and he said Corin has done a couple of day’s contact training,” Osborne said.
“And they were going to see how he went in the warm-up and they weren’t going to risk him.
“But when I saw him out there I knew they must have felt he was 100 per cent and what he showed on the park earned him another couple of week’s grace before he plays in the Group side.”
Osborne has the gift of picking a largely unchanged squad for their assault on the representative carnival which will see Group 10 tackle arch-rivals Group 11 and a side from the Castlereagh League.
“When you look at the squad there are probably 17 players who have been in our last two campaigns,” he said.
“So it’s a pretty stable squad and we’ve only had to fill in a few players who aren’t available or have left the game.
“It’s still a squad at this stage and we won’t settle on it until after Sunday, the coaches and selectors will have a phone hook-up, but if somebody wants to put their hand up and say ‘hey you missed me’ that person can still make the side.”
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As for the other Dragons picked, the Group 10 coach said they are largely familiar faces and he knows what they can bring to the table.
“Jack, Corin and Tom (Lewsley) were in the side last year and I coached Tom in Group 10 under 18s so I know what they play like.
“Demetrius (Anu), I had an eye on him last year in his first year in Group 10 and I thought he played and he didn’t a backwards step against us (Workies) on Sunday so he earned his position in the squad.”
Group 10 will play a representative Castlereagh Cup outfit for 40 minutes during the trials before backing up for a 60-minute match, slit into 30-minute halves, against the Group 11 side.
Officials are also looking at reducing the interchange rules to as low as five for the Group 11 and Group 10 game.
Osborne said with the change of rules for the one-off clash, he’d have to look closely at who he carries in his final, 18-man squad.
Group 10 train on Wednesday, April 22 and again on Wednesday, April 29, at Carrington Park.
GROUP 10 SQUAD: Terry Brown, Dane Howarth, Josh Rainbow (Blayney), Ron Lawrence, Blake Tidswell, Jack Nobes (Cowra), Tim Bassmann, Kyran Bubb, Ben McAlpine (Orange CYMS), Cody Robbins, Mitch Davis (Orange Hawks), Kirk Roberts (Oberon), Luke Carpenter, Brent Seager (Bathurst Panthers), Demetrius Anu, Jack Afamasaga, Tom Lewsley, Corin Smith (Mudgee), Joe Batchelor, Benjamin John, Luke Newsome, Gary Reilly (Bathurst St Pats), Joel O’Brien, Chris Rhodes (Lithgow Workies).
