TOUCH FOOTBALL
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Wollongong Men's 1 captain Matt Tope is confident he has the team to win a fourth consecutive NSW Touch Country Championships title.
A Wollongong representative team has taken out the past three tournaments and the local association will hedge its chances by entering two squads in the open men's division this year.
It will also contest the open women's and 50 year men's.
Tope will lead the Devils 1 team and will battle it out against some of his regular club teammates in the Devils 2 outfit.
He has played in all three of the recent championship wins but knows both Wollongong teams have strong claims to the 2014 crown.
The two sides consist of a mix of players from Wollongong's Vawden Cup premier and division 1 teams.
"The talent in each team is equal, so both teams have as good a chance as the other of being able to take the title," Tope said.
"In the Country Champs we mingle the [Vawden Cup] teams together.
"So the players get to play with different people and it dilutes the talent a little bit so we're not going out and belting teams.
"It's a chance for the different grades of Wollongong men's touch to be able to play together."
The Wollongong players enter this weekend's Country Championships at Thomas Dalton Park in hot form.
The Devils finished top of the Vawden Cup premier division table last week and are gearing up to contest the finals of the Sydney-based competition on Friday.
They will play a semi-final against Parramatta before preparing for Saturday's opening round of the championships.
Tope believes the Vawden Cup has left the Wollongong players match-fit ahead of the statewide tournament.
"Because we've been training and playing in that, obviously our preparation for this one is quite sound compared to a lot of other country teams," he said.
"We go in pretty confident."
Tope is also keen to take on NSW's best touch football associations at his "home" track at Dalton Park.
Wollongong has been given the hosting rights for the 2014, '16 and '18 Country Championships after losing the Junior State Cup.
Tope believes there will be a home turf advantage for the two Wollongong teams.
"I think there is just because you don't have to travel."
More than 70 teams from across NSW will assemble at Dalton Park to contest the championships.
