Cover Photo: Young Cherrypickers Facebook

By Tallon Smith

The Young Cherrypickers will face a massive test this weekend as they tackle last season’s runners-up the Wagga Kangaroos at home on Saturday afternoon.

Sitting pretty atop the competition on 29 points, the ‘Pickers are just half a game clear of Temora in the race for the Minor Premiership, ironically the side they face in the last round.

Cherrypickers First Grade Coach Tom Giles said that despite their opponents being on the wrong end of a big scoreline last weekend, the Young side are wary of a strong Kangaroos team who will be out to bounce back.

“It’ll be a tough game, they got a bit of a hiding there from Temora last week but they’ll bounce back, they had a stack of injuries, six or seven injuries, a few of them were season ending but a few will be back this week against us,” he said.

“They’ll be a completely different team and they’ll come here and they need a win to stay third, I think they’re a point clear of Gundagai so if they lose they’re in danger of slipping down to fourth, which they don’t want to do.

“I think it’s going to be a really close battle.”

As for the tough task of facing the ‘Roos, followed by a likely Minor Premiership showdown against Temora, Giles said that he and the squad are viewing it as a test run heading into the finals rather than a disadvantage.

“It’s the way I’d like to go into finals, that was the problem with Temora last year, they went into the finals with two byes I’d rather go into the finals playing the two teams that are behind us than playing some of the bottom sides,” he said.

“Hopefully we’ve got our full strength side for the first time this year, which is a good starta nd we’ll just continue to grow off of that.”

The Young club, like all Group 9 sides this season, has struggled with injury and unavailability, however Giles said that the Cherrypickers are finally starting to get their crucial stars back.

“I haven’t had my full team to pick from all year, barring this week hopefully,” he said.

“We’ve had a few key [players return], obviously Hally [Nic Hall] came back halfway through the year, and a few of the Sydney boys are starting to come back into the team.

“Hopefully that plays into it, we’re a little bit fresher coming into the back end of the year.”

One outside criticism which many have said could hamper Young’s ability to break their 33-year title drought is the lack of football some of their outside talent have played with the locals, however Giles said the side has worked really hard to build the combinations and the trust necessary for a serious premiership tilt.

“That’s something I worked on when I first signed up late last year,” he said.

“The five Sydney boys have bought in really well, I knew them well before I came here, they’re really good blokes and they get along with the side well, but other than that all the other blokes are local juniors.”

“With all the local talent we’ve got down here it has come together really nicely.”

The massive First Grade clash between the ‘Pickers and the ‘Roos kicks off at Alfred Oval on Saturday at 2:35pm, with lower grades starting from 9:30am.