Coleambally aim to hit the scoreboard more in 'strong' Farrer competition

After showing improvement last season, the Blues are winless from the opening six rounds and have struggled to kick goals over the past three weeks.

The Blues have kicked just nine goals over the past three games since their bye, making it hard for them to get in a winning position.

Bennett has identified Coleambally's attack as a key focus moving forward but does not rest the blame entirely with the Blues' forwards. But he knows they need to get better, fast.

"We had some periods where we had domination over the game (last weekend), we just couldn't hit the scoreboard," Bennett said.

"Our connection with our forwards needs to improve a lot. We're winning enough ball around the ground to be in the contest but we're just not applying any scoreboard pressure.

"That's not purely on our forward half, we just need a few blokes to win a few more contests up forward, create a little bit of scoreboard pressure and from that you gain some confidence as well.

"There's a little bit of maturity that comes into that, the way that we enter our forward line, we've just got to show a little bit more composure and a little bit more class via foot when we're entering our front half."

Bennett concedes Blake Argus' shift into the midfield and, at times, defence has not helped Coleambally's goalkicking issues.

But he's prepared to experiment in coming weeks in a bid to find a solution.

"There's no doubt moving Blake Argus into the middle and down back to give us strength around the ball, having done that we've robbed the forward line a bit," Bennett admitted.

"We'll try a few things over the next few weeks to try just to try and find a bit more scoreboard pressure. I think from that it will be a huge boost in confidence, if we can hit the scoreboard a bit, you can be 100 metres away on a half back flank but when a goal's kicked you feel good about it."

Blake Argus has been enormous for the Blues over the first five games, while key defender Kyle Pete is just starting to hit his straps after a few games back.

Liam Horton also took his game to a new level with a strong performance against Temora last weekend.

"Effort wise, I'm super pleased," Bennett said.

"Holding the Jets to six goals, really Temora got away on us and kicked the first five goals, which at the end of the day in a wet game, it was almost the difference. We had some control over the game but we couldn't score and when they went forward, they did, they had a bit more polish up forward.

"Our back half's doing an excellent job and, barring The Rock game, we've been really competitive around the ground, we're probably just lacking that one key forward that can steady the ship for us and take a big mark because we're battling for everything."

Bennett believes Coleambally are again improving this year but believes the nature of this year's Farrer League competition has made it tough to make ground.

"It's an interesting competition," Bennett said.

"We lost Stanley (Tipiloura), who is a massive out for us, and I kind of think with Stanley in our mix, he was 40 goals for us last year, he would make a massive difference this year because the rest of the group's improved but most of the sides have actually got better.

"We need everyone playing well because we don't have that senior player that we can rely on so it's got to be a fairly united effort from us and I think when that starts coming together we'll see some results swing our way a bit.

"We're not just quite in sync together yet but that just takes time and I'm really hoping that in the back half of the year, we see some real good signs. If we get a nice even contribution that's when we will flourish.

"At the end of the day it's a long season so the most important thing is the boys don't lose sight of what we're trying to achieve and they are improving. Our main focus is about education and bringing effort.

"It's definitely a good strong competition, there's no doubt about that."

Coleambally face another challenge this Saturday when they travel to Peter Hastie Oval to take on fourth-placed Charles Sturt University, who will be looking to bounce back after two consecutive losses.

Bennett said like everyone, Coleambally are dealing with some injuries but does not expect too many changes at the selection table this week.