FOOTBALL
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Bonnyrigg White Eagles coach Brian Brown has his squad on high alert ahead of their trip to WIN Stadium on Sunday.
The defending champions head to the Illawarra just one position above the last-placed South Coast Wolves and desperate for three points to ignite their title defence.
Just four rounds into the campaign, the White Eagles are already nine points adrift of league leaders the Blacktown Spartans.
But he admits the trip south will be a tricky place to get the ball rolling.
"I would much rather be going to somewhere in Sydney than going to Wollongong. I just think this trip is fraught with danger, so we will be coming ready," Brown said.
"I will certainly be ready and I will be stressing that to the players."
While Brown's men haven't secured the early results they wanted, they were able to take early title favourites the Spartans to the wire last week.
A 91st-minute penalty handed Blacktown a 3-2 win but Brown saw enough from his side to remain confident for Sunday.
"If it hadn't been for our performance I probably would have been really nervous about coming down to Wollongong," Brown said.
"It was only a couple of errors which really cost us the game.
"But we have been coming down to Wollongong long enough to know the guys down there will be ready for us and it will be a tough game."
Brown welcomes back regular starters Mitch Long, Ben Spruce and Aaron Peterson.
"We have been missing them really badly ... getting them back makes a lot of difference for us.
"It brings a little bit of leadership and obviously a bit of experience."