By Jake Bull
The Illawarra Cutters head north to face the Newcastle Knights at Hunter Stadium, Newcastle on Sunday.
Coming off a hard-fought win against one of the ladder leaders, the Penrith Panthers, the Cutters have maintained their seventh position and ensured that the chasing pack is kept at bay for another week.
The Knights are not once of those chasing teams as they sit just above the travelling side in fifth position.
With nine wins and nine losses, they will be looking to improve to a positive record this weekend.
Cutters Head Coach, Scott Logan, was not happy with some of the errors from his side but was pleased to be back in the winners circle with the crucial rounds to come.
“I was happy with the effort, not necessarily the performance," said Logsn.
"I thought we played a little too risky at times and made far too many errors coming out of our end and took a few options that weren’t conducive to building pressure.
“We’re at that time of year with four games left where we need to build a little bit of momentum if we want to be there at semi-final time. It’s just about getting the recovery with the long turnaround.
“We won’t think too far ahead but obviously we’d like to go up to Newcastle on the bus and get another win and continue that little bit of momentum.”
The Cutters will be looking for a big performance and will be looking to those players with experience named to get them over the line in the guise of Nathan Green, Russell Packer and Heath L’Estrange.
The Knights have plenty of young, exciting players and the likes of the Mata’utia brothers, Pat and Chanel, along with Sam Mataora and Danny Levi will be hoping to push for a top four spot.