Howard suffered a hamstring strain in Taree's win over Port FC a fortnight ago.

Originally the club was optimistic Howard would be fit for last weekend's clash against Macleay Valley.

However, coach Ben Sedlen admits the injury is worse than first anticipated.

"Jordan won't play this weekend. We're not sure when he'll be back,'' Sedlen said.

Sam Halloran, who suffered a corked leg in the 1-0 loss to Macleay Valley last week, was due to undergo a fitness test last night. However, if he's right the Wildcats will be unchanged from last Saturday.

Sedlen wasn't too disappointed with the performance against the Rangers. This was Taree's first loss for the season and the Wildcats are in equal second with Rangers.

"The effort was there, I couldn't fault that,'' he said.

However, he wants his players to stick a little closer to the game plan than they did against the Rangers.

"We need to keep more possession and not play the long ball over the top,'' he said.

Sedlen agrees that the Barbarians have been a little unpredictable in the opening month of the season.

"They came away with a draw against Port Saints last weekend and that was a little surprising,'' he said.

"But it's always a tough battle, it doesn't matter where either side is on the ladder.''

DRYING weather and plenty of it - that's what the Old Bar Barbarians Football Club wants desperately.

The Barbarians have been forced to shift Saturday's premier league clash against Taree from the Trad Complex to Omaru Park because the field is uplayable following wet weather. This is the second time this year the club has had to transfer a game for this reason.

"No-one's been on it, so the field's not chewed up. But it's very wet,'' Old Bar coach Anthony Beckett said.

"We need a month of dry weather othewise we'll be in more trouble.''

The saturated ground is also playing havoc with the club's preparation.

"We couldn't train there this week. All we could do is use the outskirts of the ground and then go on a road run,'' he said.

Beckett doubts the team will have a decent run together before Saturday's fixture.

Old Bar had one of their best results for the season last weekend when holding the highly rated Port Saints to a 2-2 draw.

"All the good work we did in the pre-season started to pay off,'' Beckett said.

"They're a good side Port and they ran us around for the first 25 minutes. But we hung in there and came away with the point.''

The Barbarians will make one forced change. Toby Gollan is back after missing the match against Saints and he'll replace the unavailable Grant Suters.

Taree-Old Bar clashes are usually lively encounters and Beckett expects tomorrow to be the same.

"They're up near the top of the ladder so they must be going alright,'' he said of the Wildcats.