Star on grand final sidelines

After breaking his wrist, Brothers United catcher Troy Maude will be on the side lines for this weekends final.

Darryn Smith

United danger man Troy Mord will watch his team from the sidelines in tomorrow’s grand final clash against favourites Across the Waves.

The catcher’s main asset is encased in plaster after a 4WD adventure went amiss a fortnight ago.

Mord hit a deep rut and was thrown forward in his seat, with his arm becoming entangled in the steering wheel as it spun around.

“I feel like cutting this thing off so I can get out there and help the boys, but I don’t think it would be the smartest move,” he said.

“I saw my doctor yesterday and he wasn’t too impressed with the idea.”

Mord will take on added management responsibilities for his team, with coach Troy Law focusing his energies in the batting box and at the pitching plate to try to scuttle the table-topping favourites.

“If they work together as a team they’ll be fine, and I’ll be doing what I can behind the scenes with a few choice words of encouragement,” he said.

Law has rejigged his catching and pitching line-up to try to fill Mord’s glove.

“It’s thrown a spanner in the works as to what changes need to be made on the field from a coaching point of view,” Law said.

“It won’t be the be-all and end-all but it leaves a pretty big hole.”

With the ever-handy Mord out of action, Law has warned his team must ramp up its defence to apply pressure on ATW’s dangerous batting line-up.

Law said the responsibility of containing big-hitting ATW batsmen would fall in the hands of his star pitchers, Nigel Edwards and Sam Daff.

“We’ve got the talent there to keep them in line, so it will be a case of making sure we send in the right pitchers against the problem batsmen,” he said.

“We also will need to keep an extremely tight field and make sure our error rate is right down.”

With a few big hitters of his own, Law will rally his troops to put some early scoreboard pressure on the rivals.

“We’ve got a good group of consistent hard hitters who can knock up points on the board,” he said.

“If they come out firing we’ll be in good stead.”

With ATW beating United convincingly in two of the past three meets, Law is eager to even the tally.

“They’ve led all the way through the season so it would be all the sweeter to cut them down right at the end,” he said. “There’s a lot of pride on the line and the boys are eager to come out on top.”

United will take on ATW at 3.30pm tomorrow at Frank Coulthard Oval.