Maitland Magpies add to depth for title run

The Magpies, who take on struggling Lake Macquarie in a catch-up game on Wednesday night, are third on 20 points - three points behind leaders Broadmeadow with two games in hand on them.

Coach Michael Bolch said his side had no injuries from a 5-4 win over Cooks Hill last Saturday and he would have the same squad to pick from for the Macquarie Field game. However, he said Bailey would be an addition in the June 28 window, possibly as a replacement for Sean Pratt, who may be travelling overseas. Bolch coached Bailey for several seasons at Olympic and was glad to have him on the way.

"He's strong, he wins a lot of ball and he's got that presence in the middle of the park," Bolch said.

Maitland meet a Lakes squad reeling from 16 goals conceded in their past three games but complacency shouldn't be a problem for the Magpies after their scare last Saturday. They led Cooks Hill 5-1 in the 73^rd minute but were left scrambling to stay ahead at 5-4 in the 84^th.

"It was probably my fault, the calamity at the end," Bolch said. "We took off four players out of our spine who were probably our best - Adam Blunden, Pratty, Ty Paulson and Jimmy Thompson - with about 20 to go.

"We've just got to learn to manage the game better. At 5-1, we just had to take the tempo out of the game, but we just let them get back into it, so lessons learned."

"I've got to start having faith in letting our starting 11 play out the 90 minutes. We haven't done it all year.

"We just need to manage the 90 minutes better.

"You've got to rotate it and keep the squad players as fit and fresh as you can, so it's a juggling act, but we probably dropped the balls while juggling on the weekend."

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