WINGHAM players will renew acquaintances with former captain-coach Kurt Lewis when the Tigers meet Old Bar Pirates in the Group Three Rugby League game at the Old Bar Reserve on Saturday.
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This will be Lewis' comeback game from a suspension handed down by the Group Three judiciary in August 2019. He was sent off in the minor semi-final against Wauchope when playing for Wingham and given a nine game ban.
Lewis served just one match before the Tigers' season ended and with no football in Group Three in 2020, the suspension carried over to this year. His return was further delayed because of postponed games due to wet weather.
"Kurt will be a big in for them,'' Wingham assistant coach Paul Lewis said.
"And I'm sure he'll be keen to tell everyone how they're going.''
The Tigers need an upset win to make up for a shock loss to Forster-Tuncurry on June 26. This harmed their final five chances.
Wingham went down to second placed Port Macquarie 16-4 last weekend in a scrappy encounter at Wauchope, where both sides showed the affects of the unscheduled mid-season break due to deferred fixtures.
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"We showed we could match it with them,'' Lewis said.
"We ran into a howling wind in the first half and were only down 4-0. But just about every time we got up their end in the second half we lost possession. We let them off the hook for sure and all the players knew that at fulltime.''
The Tigers will make one forced change, with Brodie Myer returning from an ankle injury to replace the unavailable Tim Bridge at fullback. Bridge made his comeback against the Sharks, but will miss the next two games.
