Cowra captain Chris Miller is urging his players to lift in the final two weeks in an effort to end a pattern the Eagles have formed over the past few years.
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Recent seasons have seen the Eagles just miss the finals series despite surging into contention after a slow start to the year.
Each time, the Eagles’ fate has been decided in the final round.
It’s a similar scenario in 2018, after losing three straight to start the season the Eagles are now one point from fourth placed Forbes and three points from Dubbo Roos in third.
With two rounds remaining, victory against Orange City on Saturday would most likely promote the Eagles back to the top four and finals contention, with Forbes and Roos taking on ladder leaders Emus and Bulldogs.
“It’s disappointing that it’s always coming down to the final game of the year because of slow starts. It’s been consistently the case for the past four years,” Chris Miller said.
“We have to step up otherwise in two weeks time we won’t playing footy.”
Miller was pleased with the effort in last week’s 29-19 loss at Endeavour Oval and knows the Lions will be out to “spoil the party” for the Eagles this week on Old Boys Day.
“They’ll be out to salvage their season and the spoil the party for us,” Miller said.
The Eagles only out this week is Central West representative Tom Dewhurst, which sees Will Turner get an opportunity to start.
With Col Jeffs away from the helm coaching in Canada for the rest of the season, Colin Kilby, Troy Hayes and Rohan McKay are at the reins.
“They’ll be taking us forward for the time being and hopefully into the finals series,” Miller said.
Cowra’s first grade side will be wearing special jerseys that will be raffled at the end of the match with funds going to headspace.
The game begins at 3.15pm at the Cowra Rugby Grounds.
In the game’s other rounds Forbes takes on Emus at Endeavour Oval and Bulldogs travel to Dubbo.
