The Cowra Eagles' Chris Miller was a notable absentee at this year's Central West Tour of New Zealand, but the former skipper had more pressing issues to consider.
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His wife, Amanda, was due to give to the couple's first child in the tour's vicinity.
"It was probably a bit too close... There's probably a few things at home a bit closer to the heart than football," Miller explained, adding that the child is due very soon.
Nevertheless, while he has stepped back from leadership duties with the Eagles to balance family and work matters, Miller is still excited for what the team has in store for 2019, and based on last week's trial game in Canberra it's not hard to see why.
The Eagles delivered a 25-0 thumping against the Uni Norths thirds and fourths, and Miller said the signs were generally very positive.
"Everyone was running off each other fairly well.. We're either half a step too late or half a step too forward... [but] the glimpses we've seen where plays did come together... if we can do that consistently throughout the year [we'll be doing pretty good]," he said.
"It was pretty good just to dust off the boots and get back into a bit of physicality."
However, while Miller was positive about the last game, he knows the side has plenty to work on ahead of this Saturday's afternoon clash with the Harden Red Devils, who won the Annalee McGuigan Shield in Boorowa last week.
Miller, who has played with some of their players in the past, said he and his teammates will need to lift the ruck intensity in order to match Harden, who compete in the Oilsplus South West tournament.
"Their strength's in the forward, so we're going to have to step up our physicality of the ruck.
"We were a little bit timid [last week]."
The willingness to improve is also something that Miller has identified if the Eagles are going to match last year's efforts in reaching the Preliminary Finals, where they lost to last year's Grand Finalists, the Bathurst Bulldogs, 27-0.
"Team are going to improve and what not... I heard Orange City are going to be better and other teams like that," the man they call 'Gooch' said.
"We can't rest on our laurels. There's a lot of hard work between now and the end of the season to try to get that point again."
However, Miller, who was part of the record-breaking Greyland Invitational Team who won the Cowra Twilight Tens earlier this month, said playing for Col Jeffs, who coached the Greylands side and is part of the coaching panel with with Col Kilby and Rohan McKay at the Eagles, makes it easy to find motivation.
"Being coached by Col, you almost try to lift a bit more because you're being coached by one of the best coaches in country rugby, if not nationally," Miller enthused.
"He tells you what you need to hear."
Regardless of whatever happens on-field though, it's a journey he is excited to bring his family along for.
"My wife and I are extremely excited to be parents and Amanda is to be commended on the way she has carried herself through the pregnancy," Miller said.
"It's going to be different having to think about someone else in your life... [I've been told] it's one of the best things that can happen to you."
The Eagles play the Red Devils at Cowra Rugby Fields at 2.30pm on Saturday.
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