MOREE Boars are missing playmakers Michael Watton and Brenton Cochrane for Sunday's return home to Boughton Oval in their Wests Entertainment Group Group 4 first grade clash with Manilla.
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Boars captain-coach Ben Williams said Watton has a niggling shoulder injury while Cochrane has a six week suspension to serve after being sent off at North Tamworth last Saturday.
"Mick's carried a niggling shoulder injury for the past couple of weeks and is also away for work so it's a bit of a godsend," he said while describing Cochrane's sentence as "harsh".
"Yeah, Brenton's gone for a bit. It's a big loss for us," he said believing his sentence and newspaper coverage had been hurtful for the club and the outstanding Cochrane.
Also missing from the Boars lineup is backrower Brent McDonald although Joe Wade returns from injury to partner Brett Wright in the centres.
The Boars are coming off successive "away" losses to Dungowan and North Tamworth and Williams is hoping the side can "put the last two weeks behind us".
"We'll start afresh this week," he said.
"Get the winning feeling back this week before we play Kootingal out here on the long weekend."
Moree follows that Kootingal game with a bye and then plays Kootingal again at Kootingal the next week.
"Twice in three weeks, out here and then over there, they'll be massive games for us."
First up though is Manilla.
"We're not taking them lightly," Williams said of the Tigers.
"Mitch Doring (Tiger captain-coach) is a very good footballer, always dangerous," he said of the talented pivot.
"Beau Harry (Manilla prop) also goes well," he said of the hard-running prop.
MOREE: 1 Adrian Smith, 2 Jason Saunders, 3 Joe Wade, 4 Brett Wright, 5 Joven Raveneau, 6 Ben Williams (c/c), 7 Jamie Sampson, 8 Luke Hetherington, 9 Cameron Rodgers, 10 Hayden Wiblen, 11 Zac Sampson, 12 Aaron Robinson, 13 Holt Cubis, 14 Tom Ryan, 15 Jade Girard, 16 Marshall Barker, 17 TBA.
