Junee Diesels eye chance to refresh injury concerns

Junee have fallen short in all five of their games so far including the 50-22 loss to Young at Alfred Oval on Sunday.

However they've shown plenty of positive signs after two seasons without a first grade side.

Not only did they lead Temora at half-time in round one, before conceding the 32 points in the second half, but only fell 10 points short of Tumut in their second game.

Kangaroos scored in the last five minutes to take a 18-6 win in Junee's lone game at Laurie Daley Oval this season before the Diesels were forced to make plenty of changes to that line up to take on the Cherrypickers.

Junee had four debutantes against Young on Sunday with fullback Joel Crowder and replacement Bailey Robertson both scoring tries to mark the occasion.

The only really disappointing display since their return was the 34-8 loss to Gundagai in round five.

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However injuries haven't been kind to the club and things didn't get better on Sunday.

The Diesels led 10-0 before their already large injury list was really hit hard with forwards Zac Singh and Connor McCauley both suffering serious leg injuries in the first 15 minutes.

Fraser thought it was their undoing.

"It was a great start but it's been a frustrating week with sickness and injuries building up to this," Fraser said.

"We didn't even know who was going to be playing turning up to the game.

"The two early injuries plus a sin bin in the first half was pretty ugly."

Junee were forced to make five changes from their good performance against Kangaroos, mostly to their back line with Hayden Diggins, Ratu, Jese James Strickland and James Croydon all coming out of the side to take on the Cherrypickers.

After returning to his junior club this season, Diggins has been one of the cooler heads in the side and his shift to five-eighth from hooker to take on Kangaroos was something Fraser really thought helped the side.

"The move putting Diggo into five-eighth worked well for us," he said.

Coupled with other injury concerns, Fraser thought it was too big of a hurdle to overcome.

"We finished the game with 13 players, and played the majority of it with only 14, and 100 per cent think if we played the team we had last week (against Kangaroos) we would have come away with a victory," he said.

"I can't wait until we play Young next time, hopefully with our full team."

Fraser is hoping to have more players back on deck after the general bye ahead of their clash with Albury at Greenfield Park on June 17.

The Thunder are one of five teams locked on 10 points at the top of the ladder and will be looking to capitalise on another home game.

"(The bye) hasn't come at a better time with the injuries and what not," Fraser said.

Junee will also be boosted by a glut of home games in the back end of the season.

They've played each of the top four teams from last season on the road so far but five of their last six games will be at Laurie Daley Oval.

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