The Rock-Yerong Creek's hopes of walking the fine line to finals will face a double-barrelled test on Saturday against an in-form Marrar and without an established ruckman.
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Teenage star Jack Driscoll is on representative duties while work commitments rule out Joel Kelly against his old club, who have been superbly served by their big man Nick Molkentin this year.
Key forward Andy Carey and veteran midfielder David Pieper come in for TRYC with Carey named in the ruck, but coach Tom Yates said they have options including backmen Casey Hillary and Michael Cummins, forward Jake Gunning or midfielder Cody Cool.
"We've got a couple of talls, we'll just see on Saturday. There's 'Monkey' (Hillary), Cummo, Jakey, Cooly There's a few options there but having Jack out, he's a massive out for us," Yates said.
The return of Pieper (foot) and Carey (who's managing his body through the season) are big pluses. The Pies are hoping for a big performance from their spearhead after he was kept goalless in their costly loss to the Northern Jets.
Carey booted seven in a match-winning performance against Barellan in his previous match, and six against top four side Temora earlier this year. And he's enjoyed days out against Marrar in the past, averaging nearly six goals a game in 2015-2016, kicking 23 in four meetings.
Yates led his team to a big win against Coleambally, who beat the Bombers only a month ago. But Marrar recovered from that one loss in their last eight games and last week pressured North Wagga out of the contest at McPherson Oval.
And the pressure is on the Pies - again they could be in the five, or back to second last, by Saturday night.
"We've got to turn up ready to play, it's as simple as that," Yates said. "If we turn up and play the way we want to play, it should be a very good game. Hopefully we can get the four points because we need them as everyone knows. So the challenge is there for us."
Marrar won their last meeting by three goals. That result was one of six games TRYC have lost by less than 22 points this season.
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