The Redbacks, coming off a large but hard fought loss to the Taralga Tigers will be fired up in an attempt to post their first win of the 2018 season.

The Redbacks, who have been struggling for numbers in previous weeks have now been able to consolidate a full squad of 22 players which will give coaches Nick Kemp and Brendan Sly a good solid foundation of players to work with at training, and get the Redback’s season back on track.

Read more:

The weekend saw a very strong Taralga side visit Braidwood on Saturday and take out the game 72 to 12.

The Tigers took control of the game early scoring a number of tries of the back of relentless attack and strong ball control.

The Redback’s defended continuously for the first 20 minutes of the game until a strong break and run by Harry Shoemark set up Braidwood’s first attack of the game resulting with a try from half back Billy Hatzis.

The second half started similar to the first with strong phased play and ball control from Taralga and continuing defending by the Redbacks.

However, the Redback slowly started to get back into the game and launched a number of attacks to wards the Tigers line. They were rewarded half way through the second half with a try to veteran Tom Watson with the kick converted by Ben Howard.

The Redbacks played with the full squad of 22 players for the first time on the weekend and understandably at times look a bit disorganised.

With this full contingent of players now training together, improvements in all areas of the Redbacks game is expected over the next few weeks.

That being said there were plenty of good signs for the Redbacks against Taralga. Billy Hatzis continued to improve in his new position of halfback and Harry Shoemark and Ben Howard ran the ball strongly when given the opportunity.

The scrum continued to go from strength to strength this season, even though 2 of our front rowers are carrying lingering injuries. A special mention goes to our new second rower Nathan Shepherd who played his first game since juniors and Redbacks legends Tim Moffitt, Will Hall and Tom Watson who made guest appearances and showed us why they are such big assets to this team.

Cade Graf also admirably captained the side standing in for injured captain Leland Blyton.

Three points went to Harry Shoemark, 2 points Will Hall, 1 point Nathan Shepherd. Players player went to Buzz and Chick’s pick Will Hall.

The Redbacks are looking for a big local crowd at the Rec Ground this Saturday to help give them an advantage over the Mudchooks.

BBQ and drinks will be for sale during the afternoon.