ILLAWARRA COAL LEAGUE
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Collegians coach Reece Simmonds admits his side has some ground to make up on their Coal League rivals as they prepare to face the competition's form side, Wests, on Sunday.
The Dogs haven't played since going down 12-8 to Thirroul in atrocious conditions in round one.
Their round two match with Corrimal was washed out and last weekend's Easter break leaves them three weeks without a game.
Wests have scored 86 points and conceded just eight in their two matches.
Simmonds said the disruption put his side behind.
"I'd say we are a little bit behind where we'd like to be but we've just got to play the cards we're dealt," he said.
"It's disheartening to just train and train and train and not be able to get out on the paddock so they're just desperate to get a game of footy.
"We're keen to string a few games together back-to-back rather than week on week off stuff."
Simmonds said the fact Collies were still chasing their first win of the season has made the weather-enforced lay-off extra frustrating for his side.
"They'd like to get back out there and change the result straight away [after round one] and we haven't been able to do that," Simmonds said.
"We've struggled to get on our field for past two to three weeks since that Thirroul game and we were a little bit underdone going into that one as well.
"We're trying to get the first win for ourselves."
Simmonds said the Dogs didn't dwell on the loss to the Butchers but have taken some of the positives out of the first round wake-up call.
"We were solid against Thirroul without being great. Possession-wise, we were terrible.
"We'll just worry about ourselves this week and fix a few things that we needed to.
"It's [the Thirroul game] too far gone now. It was muddy, it was raining and the conditions were terrible, so we're looking forward."
The match will be Simmonds' first trip to Parrish Park, where he played and coached for five seasons until his move to Collegians.
Simmonds said the Devils are a different side under new mentor, and former Dragon, Jason Ryles.
"I've got anidea what to expect from them.
"I know most of the players but in saying that Rylesy's put his own spin on things over there and changed a few things," Simmonds said.