INJURIES and player unavailability have saved Cowra Eagles players from the selector's axe for Saturday's must-win Blowes Clothing Cup clash with Parkes Boars at home.
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While co-coach Rohan McKay wasn't pinpointing positions under fire, it is clear that those in the top grade have been put on notice for the anticipated showdown with the Boars.
"Changes have been forced, but if everyone had been available for selection, then there would have been a couple of changes anyway," McKay said.
"The way the injuries went, we have just made the changes to cope with the injuries."
Gordon Refshauge and Sam Norris will be missing with knee injuries, and Tom Bischof is unavailable.
The importance of the match was not lost on the co-coach, but he insists it's not panic stations yet for the Eagles.
"We need to win this weekend to stay in touch, but we're certainly not panicking," he said.
"We need to be a little bit more aggressive and execute at the breakdown a little better just to build more continuity.
"We also want our kicking game to be a lot better - that is to not kick as much in certain areas of the field, therefore kicking too much ball away. When we are kicking we need to make sure we have an effective chase.
"Those are the couple of areas that we're trying to focus on this week, but we are trying to maintain a positive feeling among the group as well so everyone doesn't feel too much pressure and it all snowballs away from us.
"We want to still maintain our enthusiasm and enjoyment. We feel we're not a long way off from clicking.
"Last weekend was a poor performance from us, but the City and Bulldogs losses were close and could have gone either way."
McKay felt that there was no need to tinker with the game plan that had been effective in the opening few rounds.
"Our style is not particularly expansive, we play it fairly safe, particularly in our own 22," he said.
"From there through to the half way, we are looking to use the ball a little bit, but we're pretty precise in the way we want that ball used in those areas - it's not just throwing it around and doing fancy moves - it's pretty standard and simple stuff.
"Once we're on the other side of halfway we can have a bit more of a crack, but we're very conscious of doing the hard work and getting a lead and consolidating that lead before we start to play the exciting brand of football the boys are capable of. So it's still quite a conservative approach I'd say."
An understrength Boars outfit has struggled in recent weeks with representative commitments tying up key players.
However, there's no doubting Cowra faces a stern test to turn their season around following three consecutive losses.
"My understanding is that a couple of the Parkes players still have Country commitments, but they've been at the pointy end of Blowes Cup now for the past few years," McKay said.
"I think their lower grades are struggling a little bit with numbers, but their first grade will be very competitive and we're expecting a very hard game this weekend, particularly in the forwards - they have a very solid forward pack."
