The lead on the Bundaberg Broadcasters A Grade Premiership ladder will be up for grabs in the top-of-the-table Round 5 showdown between the unbeaten Past Brothers and Waves Tigers at Salter Oval at 4.15pm on Saturday.
Third place will also be on the line in the clash between Wests Panthers and Easts Magpies at 6pm.
Fallen reigning premiers Hervey Bay Seagulls will be hoping to ignite their season after a horror start when they host Wallaroos in a Fraser Coast Local Derby at Stafford Park at 5pm.
The Wallaroos got their season on track with their first victory of 2023, ambushing the Panthers 18-10 at home one fortnight ago before the break from fixtures for the XXX 47th Battalion Carnival.
A much depleted Brothers had to settle for a last-start 14-14 draw with the Magpies.
The Tigers are coming off a 76-8 mauling of the hapless Seagulls, and they have five players who really stepped up to the plate for Bundaberg at the XXXX 47th Battalion carnival; front rowers Joshua Hill and inspirational captain Reece Maughan, hooker Sam Tobin, second rower Lachlan Patterson and halfback Brendan Grills.
But coach Antonio Kaufusi, who has handed the reins to club president Ashley Simpson for the game as he will be attending Magic Round in Brisbane, said they would be missing seven players.
Those players are halves Grills and Brad Clarke, star centre Jensen Deamer, and Patterson, who are each also attending Magic Round, as well as Jake McLennan and winger Tumeli Naco, whom he said had been “awesome”.
“We will have five debutants, including Flynn Purkis from Wests who has returned last week after starting the season with Mackay Brothers and had his second training session with us yesterday, Sam Tobin and Reece Maughan will play in the halves, and Kynan Hard, who has been a great back-up to Sam, will start at hooker for the first time,” Kaufusi said.
“Our reserve grade is down on numbers too but Malachi Law and Caleb Tairawhiti will step up to debut to A Grade for the first time.”
On the other sides of the coin, Brothers president Mat Templeman said they would welcome back their troops, with 10 changes to the side which battled it out with Easts, including with big guns Matt Craven and Mitch Taylor returning.
“Also, Tyla Hodge will return from suspension for his first game of the year, and he will add quite a bit of beef through the middle,” Templeman said.
“Our only major out is Tyrell Priestley, who is still suffering from a pretty bad cork in our previous game.
“The boys are looking forward to this one – it will be a tough game, a top of the table clash and Waves are a young enthusiastic very fit team, and they play an in your face shapey game, and it will be a good contest.”
Wests was the best represented club in the XXXX 47th Battalion, with seven players, Connor Yeats, Chris Robinson, Israel Power, Laish Salam, Viliami Molisi, Bruce Ikamanu and Livimai Liuanga, and they will be still smarting after going down to Roos after being pipped by Brothers.
The Magpies have lost just one game so far, going down to the Tigers 30-18 on April 1, and they will take confidence from their draw with the Brethren despite the competition leaders fielding a patchwork side in that match.
Hero photo: Kynan Hard passes for Waves in their last-start demolition of Hervey Bay Seagulls. Hard will make his starting debut at hooker against Past Brothers tomorrow with regular No.9 Sam Tobin to play in the halves.
