Last Saturday the new captain-coach led his side to a 48-18 Group 10 premier league win over Orange Hawks at the Oberon Sports Ground after being forced to make a late change to a key position.

Fullback Blake Fitzpatrick strained his hamstring in the warm-up, so winger Matt Ballinger took over as custodian.

This Saturday the Tigers will be at home once more, this time hosting a Cowra side who went down 14-10 to Mudgee in their season opener.

“It was fantastic last Saturday, I couldn’t have scripted it any more perfectly for my first home game for the season. It would be great if we could win again and go 2-0 to start the year,” Branighan said.

“While it’s only early in the year and we are not looking too far ahead of ourselves, if you can get these wins early it will help you finish as high up the ladder as possible and who knows? Come finals time we might have two bites of the cherry.

“We want to focus on winning all our games at home this year. Fortress Oberon – I like the sound of that.”

The Tigers beat Cowra 22-0 at the pre-season Bathurst Panthers Knockout, but Branighan knows the Magpies his men face on Sunday will be different.

“We beat them at the knockout, but I’m not reading anything in to that. They had a fair few players out, so we will be treating them with the respect they deserve this weekend,” he said.