The Dragons are 1-0 and the Red V is rocking after a scalding hot performance from Jack Beasley against Blayney on Sunday.
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“He’s got a great attitude and he shows a real football maturity,” premier league coach Ben Gregory said.
“He’s just a young bloke who’s been given an opportunity and has the right mindset to make the most of it.”
Although a first-up win against Blayney was nice, a clash against the 2017 premiers is an entirely different proposition for Gregory’s troops.
It might not be a bad spot to catch CYMS as it’s the side’s first game this season after being dealt a round one bye last weekend.
“CYMS are the bench mark,” Gregory said.
“It’s good to be able to put ourselves up against quality sides at the start of the season to see where we’re tracking.
“They’re the standard in Group 10.”
Mudgee emerged from the Bears clash relatively unscathed, with a Hamish Bryant groin strain as the only injury to make the list.
This paves the way for Nathan O’Brien to come off the bench and Aidan Woods to wear the number 14 jersey.
As a coach, Gregory doesn’t like to overcomplicate things and he stuck to that mindset at training this week as the side worked on making strong first contact in defence and brushed up on their attacking execution.
“It’s early in the year and those things just take some fine tuning to make sure they’re right,” he said.
Not to be overshadowed by the premier league performance, Sebastian Flack’s first division side got a win in week one too, which Flack attributed to endurance.
CYMS are the benchmark and it’s good to be able to put ourselves up against quality sides at the start of the season.
- Ben Gregory
“We were good in patches but fitness prevailed,” Flack said. “Tom Lawson was a stand out for us. He’s made the move to fullback and had a hand in most of the points.
“Harrison Maynard was also really impressive in his first game of rugby league. Our side is training better than I ever expected.”
The women’s league tag, under 18s and both men’s sides will host CYMS on Sunday at Glen Willow.