A REMATCH between the Tathra Sea Eagles and the Bega Bombers will play in Bega on Saturday.
The game was scheduled to play at Lawrence Park, but has been traded back to the Bega Showground.
In the special Anzac round between the Sea Eagles and Bombers the match was shifted to the Tathra ground from Bega.
The shift is to simply return the favour, Bombers coach Chris Dwyer said on Thursday.
The local derby will play as a rematch from round eight, where Bega won in a dominant display.
Tathra captain Luke Taylor, who won’t be playing on the weekend, said he was keen to see Tathra put one back on the Bega squad.
“It will be a bit of revenge for the good touch up they gave us last time,” Taylor said with a laugh in the lead up.
Dwyer is after a more focused and disciplined effort from his side to get back in the winners’ circle.
“We were undisciplined last week and it influenced the result,” he said.
“We don’t make excuses, we know we were poor and we’re out to rectify that.
“It’s the biggest rivalry we have going in our AFL comp and after the controversy from our last win it should be a good game.”
There was social media backlash following the previous round where Bega was joined by a number of comedians for the game and won by 20 goals.
Taylor downplayed the complaints and said Tathra was just looking forward to a return shot to put a big win back on the Bega side.
Both teams boast some fit young runners, with Tathra looking to Bayden Pilbeam and Jack Hukins as its fringe runners.
A number of key players from the Bega roster will be out including Adam Blacka, Shannon Shepherdson, Sam Sargent and Nathan Carpenter.
Dwyer will therefore be looking to his young guns to step up.
“I’d put the challenge to Dale Leahy, he might come in the middle and Kel Evans, I enjoy watching them and I’ll be putting it on them to have big games,” Dwyer said.
The veteran heads will also be sought to lead by example for the troops after a sloppy showing against Merimbula.
“We need to step back and we need the experienced guys to show an example for the young guys on how to carry themselves and what they should be doing on the field.”
Tathra won’t be at full strength either, but will have players across key positions to keep things in shape.
Coach Reggie O’Loghlin will lead from the front, while Jarrod Palmer heads up the back line defence for the Tathra squad.
The two teams also have a similar fast-moving play style with plenty of handballing, not just slogging with the boot.
The Bombers got a little off track last week, but Dwyer has drilled the team to stick to it’s game plan.
“The last time we played Tathra was the best we stuck to the plan, and the result showed on the board,” he said.
It’s also a key match for both teams with finals just five weeks away.
“Our finals campaign really starts here,” Dwyer said.
“You can’t plan your finals from the week before, you want to get a roll on so we’ll be looking to get the points over Tathra.”
Jacob McMaster