COBDEN hopes returning reinforcements can help to consign its hard start to the history books.
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The injury-hit Bombers are the Hampden league's only winless side after four rounds, but have been buoyed by competitive spurts against finals contenders in North Warrnambool Eagles and Camperdown.
Zac Green and Jack Hutt are pressing to return for Cobden's clash with Hamilton Kangaroos on Saturday while livewire Tarj Anderson is likely to return through the reserves from a hamstring complaint.
Liam Loubey, Sam Giblett, Louis Robertson and Sam Uwland could also see action in the coming weeks as they push to overcome injuries.
They all train consistently and they're all in our best 21. When you don't have them on the track, and you don't have them on the park, it has a bit of a roll-on effect.
- Adam Courtney
"They all train consistently and they're all in our best 21. When you don't have them on the track, and you don't have them on the park, it has a bit of a roll-on effect," coach Adam Courtney said.
"The confidence level of the group does drop but we're trying to stay as upbeat as possible and we're excited about the chance to play Hamilton (Kangaroos) this week and hopefully we'll get our first win."
Courtney said his side needed to improve its ball use and decision making.
"It's just about understanding who to kick to, and understanding when to kick it short and when to go to 50-50s," he said.
"It's those small things we've got to improve on and go back to the way we were playing in our practice matches early in the year.
"Execution is a personal thing. Each player has to work harder on their skill level to be hitting more targets. Especially the easy ones.
"We're switching the ball into the middle of the ground and missing targets. In Hampden league footy, it's just basically going to be a goal 90 per cent of the time if you do that.
"It's just those things, these blokes know how to kick the footy and they've got to work hard and they've been doing that the past two weeks. Hopefully we can see that on Saturday."
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