Last month, Mick Sullivan looked at the Group 10 draw and saw Orange CYMS’ round four clash with the Tigers at Oberon and thought one thing:
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“They’re going to give me a gob-full.”
He’s right, too, and that day has come.
The Tigers will host defending premiers CYMS at Oberon Sportsground on Sunday in what is the first rematch of the 2017 grand final won 24-22 in spectacular fashion by the green and golds.
Of course, Tigers fans don’t recall it that way though.
Amongst the heartbreak of letting a lead slip in a grand final – Oberon’s first in 42 years, no less - the black and gold army remembers Sullivan, a now five-time Group 10 premier league title winning coach, running backwards to wind down the clock.
A completely fair play, it helped CYMS remain in possession of the ball and denied the Tigers a final shot at pinching the 2017 crown.
The Orange CYMS veteran expects a bumper Tigers crowd on Sunday to give him heaps but all he’s focused on is ensuring the green and golds overcome what he dubbed as a difficult start to the season with an unblemished record.
After a round one bye, CYMS has knocked off the Dragons in Mudgee and accounted for a vastly improved Cowra 30-28 at Wade Park last week.
“It’s three really tough games early, two of them on the road, and if we can go in undefeated after those it’ll really set up our first round,” Sullivan said in the sheds after the Magpies win.
Sullivan’s CYMS are on top of the table but he says that position is a bit of an illusion as to how his side is tracking.
Dipping in and out of contests against Mudgee and Cowra, the former NRL rake says starting well and maintaining that intensity for the full 80 minutes is the challenge for CYMS.
One they’ll need to embrace against a Tigers side in its first home game of the season.
“Controlling our sets is key,” he said, the momentum changing dramatically throughout CYMS’ last-start against the Magpies.
“We led for lot of the that game and scraped away with it.”
Something Oberon couldn’t do against St Pat’s in their last start.
Leading for 70 minutes, Oberon let a 10-4 lead slip to eventually lose 16-10 to a red-hot Bathurst St Pat’s outfit.
Given the hype surrounding the Tigers in the lead-up to 2018 and the fact Luke Branighan’s side has dipped to one win and two losses to start the season, Sullivan is expecting Oberon to fire at home.
CYMS takes on the Tigers on Sunday at Oberon Sportsground.
Nick McGrath
Editor, Central Western Daily
Editor, Central Western Daily
