Are the Oberon Tigers back?
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No, not according to captain-coach Luke Branighan. Not yet, anyway.
The Tigers host Group 10 ladder-leaders Orange Hawks on Sunday at Tigertown and despite winning three consecutive games to slowly claw their way into the competition’s top five, Branighan says his team is still a rung or two below the likes of the two blues and the in-form Cowra Magpies.
But, should Oberon knock off one, or even both, in the next couple of weeks then Branighan says the Tigers we all expected to see this year might finally be finding their feet in 2018.
“We had a really good off season but disruptions put us back a couple of months … we’ve got a few troops back and we’re starting to hit a bit of form,” he said.
“It’s a big game, (Hawks is) a big side with some big bodies in that team. They’ve got some match winners off the back of that as well.
“It’s going to be a tough game but we go in with confidence.”
Branighan said Hawks had defensive issues he was hoping he and fellow halves partner Josh Starling will be able to exploit.
Starling started 2018 in the front-row and, as a former NRL player, is easily one of the best props in Group 10 this season.
But a gap in the Tigers’ halves depth stemming from the season-ending injury to gun rake Luke Carpenter has forced Branighan to think outside the box.
“I’m not naive, I know everyone thinks he should be in front-row and in an ideal world he would be. But Josh is our best option at five-eighth at the moment,” he said.
“He did a few things with the ball on the weekend no one else in our club can.”
Oberon hosts Hawks from 10.30am, with league tag kicking off the day. Premier league starts at 2.15pm.