Glen Innes’ Alex Newsome will shift to outside centre for the NSW Country Eagles for their clash with the Fijian Drua in Suva on Saturday.
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After starting at fullback the last two games, Newsome will partner Narrabri’s Will McDonnell in the centres.
The Eagles are coming off a heartbreaking last minute loss to the Canberra Vikings in Armidale, and face a huge challenge in trying to topple the Drua on home side.
But it’s one Eagles coach Darren Coleman said the group is excited about.
“(There’s) Nothing better than winning matches people don’t think you can.
“It’s one of the purest feelings in sport,” he said.
“To beat them it’s not rocket science, you’ve got to minimise the number of unstructured possessions you give them, from poor kicks and turnovers as they are punished by the Drua.”
“I’m confident our set piece can get some pay and it’s up to us to be error free off the back of that.”
Will Miller will captain the side in the absence of regular skipper Paddy Ryan.
Mick Snowden will meanwhile again start at half-back.
While happy with the Eagles defence in the first half against the Vikings, Coleman said their A zone attack, composure and execution needed to be better to take more of an advantage of the territory and possession they had.
