THE fixture between the Lower Macleay Magpies and South West Rocks Marlins always stands out on Hastings League season draw and fans haven’t had to wait long this time around with the ‘Battle of the River’ set to take place at Verge st on Sunday.
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Starting at 1.30, the teams will fight it out for the IGA Challenge Shield which has been introduced this year.
It is not the first time in 2015 the two teams the have played against each other for silverware having both made it to the final of last month’s Bain Cup, a match the Marlins won 48-6.
Marlins player Tony Duncan said he expects to face a different Magpies side on Sunday.
“We won’t really be thinking about what happened in the Bain Cup,” he said.
“They were missing a few players and it was a pre season game so you can’t really read too much into the result. There always a bit more feeling when we come up against the Magpies which I think is a result of the crowd atmosphere. The players all get along with each other quite well but we definitely step it up in terms of wanting to win.”
The two Macleay sides have already faced some tough opposition in the season so far with the Marlins recording a confidence boosting win against last year’s grand finalists, the Comboyne Tigers last week while the Magpies were beaten by 2014 premiers, Kendall, in the first round.
Despite being on wrong end of the score line, Lower Macleay was far from disgraced in the game, managing to match their opponents scoring in the second half.
With the side coming into this week’s clash on the back of the bye last week, new recruit Jamahl Toby said the side have been rejuvenated by the break.
“We have a few players returning this week who were missing in our first round clash and we have been training well so I think we should go alright,” he said.
“There were a few areas in which we needed to improve after that game so we used the bye week to sort a few things out. We have moved on from the loss and are now focused on our next game.”
The Lower Macleay Magpies will play the South West Rocks Marlins at 1.30pm at Verge st on Sunday.