Mudgee Wombats | 22

Mudgee Wombats co-coach Tommy Flynn said the side not reaching for the panic button despite suffering a thumping 33-point loss at the hands of Forbes on Saturday. 

Needing a win to stay in touch with the top four in the Blowes Clothing Cup, Mudgee again suffered from the issue that plagued them last start against Dubbo.

Too often the side was looking to one of their teammates to make something happen rather than take the game head-on, which was a feature during their earlier season winning streak. 

However, Flynn said head coach Neil McDonald and the team were confident of breaking out of the mini slump they find themselves in. 

“Our defence wasn’t great, we missed a lot of tackle across the board and we were out enthused to a certain extent,” Flynn said.  

“They were a pretty big pack and we were out-muscled with us missing a couple of our bigger blokes. 

“We just didn’t have that aggression and that enthusiasm that you need when you are playing a bigger pack.”

Flynn paid tribute to the club for fulfilling their duties despite fielding two less than full-strength sides. 

 “We were pretty short on numbers across the board which meant everybody was a little flat,” he said. 

“Second grade did very well to play a man down for the majority of their game because we were missing a few front-rowers. 

“All up it is a tough place to go and try and win. There are just a couple of things that we need to do to work on keeping our intensity.”

Mudgee matched Parkes early in the clash and were within touching distance of them at the break down 19-10.

However, needing to score first to put a scare into the Platypi, the Wombats conceded more points to  go down 26-10.

From there Mudgee rushed passes and looks to try and score often as they desperately tried to climb back into the game.

However, Forbes continued to sail towards victory with late Mudgee tries only proving a consolation.

Mudgee’s Blowes Cup season now sits at 5-5 as they now face a tall order in front of them to again being mentioned as the darkhorse to win the competition. 

However, Flynn said he knows the side only needs to be tinkered with slightly for them to again find their early season form. 

“It’s not panic stations yet. We know we need to start getting a few wins on the board but we just need to go back to what was working for us at the start of the year,” Flynn said. 

“That being, not waiting for things to happen. When everybody is looking to be the guy that leads from the front, that is infectious. 

“But when everybody starts to sit back and wait, not saying they didn’t play hard, but more that they didn’t look to do the next thing themselves, it does filter through the side. 

“The worst thing it does is it gives the other team a sniff. Even tough there are a few other teams lowers than us on the ladder, they’re all capable of putting on points if you give them the chance. 

“To their credit they completely outplayed us and they took their chances well and put us away. 

“If we have the belief that we had in the early games it has a huge impact on the other team, you can see it.”

Mudgee will have an ideal chance to kick-start their season when they host Cowra and CSU at home before travelling to play the struggling Narromine Gorillas.