Junee will use the confidence it gained from a near-victory over competition force Gundagai as fuel for its away clash with Tumbarumba on Sunday.
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Junee was in front for most of its May 6 clash with the Tigers - the last time the Diesels ran onto the field - but couldn’t sustain what would have been one of the biggest upsets of the season.
A late strip from former Diesel Damian Willis on his cousin Daniel Foley helped turn the tide in Gundagai’s favour and inflict a 18-22 loss upon Junee.
But Hands remained happy with the team’s effort on the day and is banking on his side maintaining that spirited level of fight in Junee’s bid to claim its first win since the opening round.
“I’m proud of the effort,” Hands said following the Gundagai clash.
“We were probably expected to get beat by 50 after we got beat by that much by Southcity.
“We were expected to get towelled up.”
“Knowing that we can stick it with those sides as they were probably the benchmark and they had all those players back.
“We will take a lot of confidence from that and the feeling I am getting is that this is something we can definitely build on.”
The Diesels have also been the beneficiary of two full weeks of rest, thanks to drawing the bye last week.
Tumbarumba sits in tenth spot on the ladder with just one win from six games, while Junee sits in eighth.
Junee has not won since its opening round 60 point thrashing of Cootamundra on April 2.