Gunnedah captain Mitchell Swain expects this Tamworth side to be considerably stronger than the team who suffered a heavy loss to Armidale in Armidale, with that team affected by key player withdrawals.

“That sort of game doesn’t really mean anything to us,” he said. “We know they’re a better side than that.

“I’m sure the side they fielded [against Armidale] was the best side they could field on the day but they’ll be a completely different side to the one that played in Armidale.

“We’re expecting an all-but-full-strength side.

“There might be one or two players not available but they’ll have a strong side.”

And that is the way Swain likes it.

Before the War Veterans Cup started, he talked about the renewed pride players had in representing the town.

“A few of us got together and had a bit of a talk, and the general feeling is everyone’s pretty keen,” he had said.

“And I think probably over the past couple of years we probably haven’t done as well as we would have liked, and we probably didn’t get the [player] numbers we would have liked.

“Hopefully everyone stays keen.”

Nothing has happened since then to cause him to rethink that assessment, and the challenge Sunday’s match presents is exciting to him.

“To be the best you’ve got to beat the best, he said.

He added: “If you’re not going into a game confident, you may as well not be there.

“We’ll be happy with the side we put on the field … There’s a lot of young kids coming through.

“We’ve got some good cricketers coming through.”

Gunnedah will be without influential allrounder Farran Lamb and top-order batsman Ben Haire on Sunday due to personal commitments.