GNFL round 9 preview: Wake-up call puts Railways in go mode as they prepare for top side Valley

Railways have regrouped after their loss to Towns last week and feel confident they are back on track as they prepare to face an undefeated Chapman Valley. The Blues were stunned last Saturday when they lost to Towns 8.4 (52) to 15.4 (94) and they could fall out of the top four this weekend with another defeat. “Everyone’s going through similar stages, but we do have a lot of injuries at the moment that we’re trying to get through and manage the best we can.,” Railways coach John Reynolds said. “That way I look at it, our guys didn’t turn up, Towns played extremely good football so we don’t take that away from them.” The team used the loss as an opportunity to regroup and reassess where they are at, the coach said. “We’ve sat down as a club and had a look at how much we want to commit into this year, and I think we’ve really come up with some positive stuff, the guys reacted really good,” Reynolds said. “I think you’ll see a total different side coming out this week.” In his second year at the helm, Reynolds is still finding the balance of dealing with injuries and player availability. “It’s always a challenge for coaching, if a country coach of football said that it’s always quite fluent and easy then I would like to know their secret,” he said. With a 3-3 record, the Blues are only one game off where they were at this time last season when they sat at 4-2, with two big losses. “I think we’ve had a few things not go our way nice and early, but this time last year we also got beat by Northampton 50-odd points, I think Brigades beat us by 50-odd points as well,” Reynolds said. “So it’s not alarm bells for us to think that this season is doom and gloom, it’s actually just a wake-up call to say, OK, now’s the time where we’ve got to put it all together.” Railways now face their biggest challenge this season when they travel to Mazzuchelli Oval to play the unbeaten Royals. Reynolds wants his side to go back to basics with its game plan. “We really want to go back to focusing on our style of play and our game plan, rather then trying to chase tails everywhere,” he said. “If our guys can come out and stick to the structure, I have no doubt we’ll get over the line. “If we get a good start and we just got to stick to our structure…they run really good off their half-back so I think that’s where they create a lot of their play.” With all the star power that Chapman Valley has, the Blues will have their hands full with online sensation Tom “Prime Train” Baulch suiting up for the Royals as well. Reynolds said despite the marquee player, Railways were focusing on their own brand of footy. “It’s very hard having a marquee player coming in, you really don’t know what impact they’re going to have,” he said. “I’ve got no doubt that Prime Train is pretty handy with the football from what I see, we’re going to focus on our game style and our players rather than worrying too much about their style and their game plan.” Prime Train will be going down the slide after the game for the Big Freeze in the Valley and he could get some tips from Reynolds who took part last year. This time, the coach will be happy watching from the sidelines. “We’ve got a couple of good guys with Jack Cocking and Michael McConnell … I’ll be nice and rugged up with my Big Freeze beanie on watching them go down,” Reynolds said. In the other games across the league, Brigades host Mullewa at GBSC Sports Park while Towns travel to Greenough Oval to take on Rovers.