New faces shine for Rams as Hancock left with 'headaches' for Bulls showdown

Rams hosted a 50-year reunion of Western Division's 1974 Amco Cup triumph at Narromine but ended up being beaten 16-14, the upset ending their Country Championships bid at the first hurdle.

The first step to rectifying the above result came in a trial against the same opposition at Scone Park with Rams running over the top of the Tigers 30-6 on Saturday, March 1.

Hancock was optimistic after the result even if he pointed to the real test against a strong Riverina Bulls team in Wagga Wagga on Sunday, March 9.

"Overall, the effort was really good and the buy-in from the boys has just been outstanding," Hancock said.

"Even though we were a little bit erratic at times, I think we sort of got caught trying to play a bit of knockout footy because of the shorter quarters, but once we sort of settled into things and got our completions up we were pretty good," he continued.

"So it was really positive from our end."

The first challenge of the Rams season came in the form of Camden Sutton's wedding with several Mudgee Dragons players a part of the Suttons' happy day.

The absences didn't seem to affect Western with the likes of Jeremy Thurston, Jack Kavanagh and the returning Toby Westcott singled out for praise.

"We've got a few [selection] headaches," he said.

"Jeremy Thurston was outstanding...I thought Toby Westcott controlled things pretty well.

Jack Buchanan and Jack Kavanagh led from the front, Casey Burgess worked himself to a standstill but through the middle as well.

"Jack Smith, he's probably playing a little bit out of position on the wing and we sort of moved him around a bit in the trial but he would have ran for bloody nearly 300 metres.

"He would bring come out of the backfield, he was a handful and really helped us start our sets off well."

The junior Western teams continued their campaigns on the weekend with mixed results.

The Lisa Fiaola side made it a perfect three from three with a 20-6 win against Northern Rivers Titans in Blacktown.

It was tough going for the boys against Macarthur Wests Tigers, though, with the under 18s losing 30-26 in the dying stages while the under 16s lost 42-32.