Pressure 'all On Magpies'
Illawarra Mercury
Saturday August 23, 2008
WARILLA coach Peter Hooper believes Berry-Shoalhaven Heads have got more to lose in this afternoon's Group Seven elimination semi-final at Berry Showground.
The Gorillas finished fifth and are contesting the finals series for the first time since 2002.Berry claimed fourth spot and are on a quest to make up for last year's grand final thrashing from Albion Park-Oak Flats.Hooper claimed the Magpies could crumble under the "weight of their own expectations"."They're definitely under more pressure than us. We've got nothing to lose," he said."They played in the grand final last year and they'll be expecting to get back there, so they'll be really disappointed with anything less and that might prove to be too much of a burden."Some people say we've over-achieved this year, but I don't think so. We've got a long way to go yet."We're 1-1 with Berry this year and the only team we haven't beaten are Shoalhaven. We beat (minor premiers) Shellharbour twice. We don't fear anyone."Hooper said the Gorillas would have to keep close tabs on Magpies hooker Paul Skewes and tireless prop Rhys Sharpe."Skewes killed us in the second half when we played them down there and Rhys Sharpe is one of the best forwards in the comp because he just keeps working hard," he said.Warilla will almost certainly be without teenage star Beau Henry, who recently signed a two-year contract with St George Illawarra.The Magpies were the best team in the second round with six wins, a loss and a draw.Meanwhile, Shoalhaven have rushed fullback Layne Green back into the starting line-up for tomorrow's qualifying semi-final against Milton-Ulladulla at Nowra Showground.Stand-in fullback Nathan Deaves has shifted back to hooker, allowing Green to return after an elbow injury kept him out of last week's season-ending home loss to Milton."Layne will stiffen us up. He's like an extra forward because he does a lot of work off the ruck and takes plenty of hit-ups," Jets captain-coach Geoff Johnson said."Last week was disappointing but we've spoken about things like discipline and defence on our own line and the boys are pretty keen to put together a much better performance."The Bulldogs have lost Adam Tracey (ankle injury) for the rest of the year, although Brett Cox has returned after missing last week's win."Our start was fantastic last week and hopefully we'll repeat that on Sunday, but they'll be more fired up than last week because both sides know it's a crunch game," Dogs co-coach David Hatch said.
© 2008 Illawarra Mercury
