Lambton Jaffas face a huge test of depth to keep their NPL men's premiership hopes alive when they take on in-form Cooks Hill on Saturday without six starting players.
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Jaffas, who already had Josh Piddington, Pat Bond and Sakeel Balfour Brown out suspended, will also be missing their leading scorer Kale Bradbery and former A-League stars Ben Kennedy and Nikolai Topor-Stanley for the penultimate round clash at Fearnley Dawes Athletics Field from 3pm.
The trio will be attending the wedding of former Jets player Ben Kantarovski. His brother, Michael, who would have come into calculations for a depleted Jaffas side, is also unavailable.
Lambton, last year's grand final winners, are third on 40 points, one point behind leaders Charlestown and trailing Maitland on goal difference.
Young keeper Liam Michels, who Lambton picked up from Valentine mid-season as a replacement for Jets Youth-bound Ryan Furness, will take over from Kennedy in goals.
Jaffas regain young defender Jagger Wholert, who missed their most recent game - 1-0 win over Charlestown - two weeks ago with a back issue. He will be needed as Lambton look to fill the void left by Piddington, Bond and Topor-Stanley in defence.
Coach David Tanchevski said Nathan Verity and Reece Papas were options at centre-back. Tanchevski said the losses were not ideal given the importance of the games this week, which could ultimately decide the premiership.
In contrast, Maitland should be close to full-strength for their game against Newcastle Olympic at Cooks Square Park on Saturday (2.30pm).
Coach Michael Bolch said Damon Green was the only injury concern for Maitland, whose most recent defeat in the league came at the hands of Olympic in round 10. They then won nine in a row before a 1-1 draw with Cooks Hill last time out.
Olympic are seventh on 30 points and effectively out of the finals race given their minus-one goal difference.
Jaffas and Maitland can leapfrog Charlestown before their clash with fourth-placed Broadmeadow (39 points) at Lisle Carr Oval on Tuesday night. That round 21 match was pushed back because of Broadmeadow's Australia Cup round of 32 game against Sydney United 58 on Friday night at Magic Park.
Also on Saturday at 2.30pm, fifth-placed Weston (36 points) face second-last New Lambton at Alder Park and sixth-placed Edgeworth (34) host Adamstown at Jack McLaughlan Oval in key battles for a top-five finals spot.
On Sunday, bottom side Lake Macquarie play ninth-placed Valentine at Macquarie Field (2.30pm).
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Craig Kerry
Craig Kerry is a sports reporter for the Newcastle Herald.
Craig Kerry is a sports reporter for the Newcastle Herald.
