The Batties’ first grade side is fresh off a heart-stopping win against the Blayney Rams and will look to notch up another winning result in round 10.

Re-joining the squad on Saturday will be try-scoring machine Dave Jessiman who was recently deemed the most influential player in the central west.

The news could startle Dave Birch who’s determined to track down Jessiman in the try-scoring sweepstakes but is out on Saturday.

“I think he only has three tries on me now so I’ll be chasing him down,” Birch laughed.

Mudgee could find itself in second position with a win this weekend but would need to score four tries or lose by seven points or less to earn a bonus point.

Some would consider the rapid turnaround surprising but Dave Birch, who picked up three tries against Blayney, thinks this team is destined for success.

“At the start of the season the bulk of the senior players sat down and spoke about where we wanted to be and we were confident we’d get to the finals,” Birch said.

“We were disappointed with how we started the season but we were definitely building and now we can only get better.

“It’s been annoying each week to have people missing but if we can get our full first grade side together before the finals we can go really well.”

From the outside looking in, Narromine appears to be almost unbeatable as the Gorillas have won all nine of their matches so far but Birch thinks his side can give them a run for their money.

“Narromine carried the same team in from last year so they’ve had two seasons with the same 15 players in there,” he said.

“The quality and experience is there but they’re definitely beatable. Our forwards pushed them back but they’ve got a cracking hot backline.

“Every team is beatable though and I think we’ll get the job done.”