THE Illawarra South Coast Dragons open men's side are now just two wins from defending their NSWRL country championships crown.
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Standing in their way first are the Riverina Bulls, who defeated Wade Forrester's troops 30-14 earlier this month at Shellharbour.
"There's no doubt Riverina got the better of us that day," Forrester, who admits his and his player's pride was dinted that day, said.
"You can't turn the ball over 12 times in the first half alone and expect to win a game of footy at this level.
"Everyone was disappointed in that result but I was proud of the way the boys responded last week against the Bulldogs, with us starting to play the way I know we are capable of.
"We strung some really pleasing passages together and were rewarded with numerous classy tries, which thankfully saw us scrape into the semi-finals - an achievement we thought was dead and buried after round one.
"Although we still had eight turnovers in the first half, which we all know is not good enough, I thought our ball-handling and discipline took a step forward last Saturday.
"All the boys are looking forward to the challenge of rectifying that opening-round loss to Riverina on Sunday."
If Forrester's squad, which will feature Nowra-Bomaderry's Tyson Simpson instead of Warilla-Lake South's Blair Grant this week, are to reach to country championships decider, the mentor knows how big of an achievement it will be.
"Personally, I'll be ecstatic if we won on Sunday," he said.
"From a big picture perspective, it will be really exciting for the South Coast region, giving our top players a chance to showcase their talents at the highest level in country footy.
"But we aren't getting too far ahead of ourselves and know we have a job to do.
"We still have plenty of improvement left in us as a side, especially in terms of discipline with the ball and on defence - realistically, we shouldn't be turning over the ball more than four times a half.
"At the end of the day, if you hold the footy, you build pressure and create fatigue on the other side, which will be one of our main objectives on Sunday.
"The boys know the level they need to be at for the full 80 minutes and I have complete faith in them."
Both open men's semi-finals will be played at Queanbeyan's Seiffert Oval on Sunday, with the Dragons playing at 2pm, following the Central Coast Roosters and Monaro Colts fixture.
The other Dragons outfit to reach the semi-finals is Aaron Hertsch's Andrew Johns Cup side.
The under 17s side have won all five of their matches during the 2021 country championships campaign and will take on the North Coast Bulldogs at the Windsor Sports Complex from 11am on Saturday.
The winner of this fixture will play in the final against of either the Central Coast Roosters or the Monaro Colts the following week.