WITHOUT a home ground all year, unable to train due to wet weather and having not played in weeks, Newcastle could come up with plenty of excuses if they lose to Cardiff.
But for City coach Mitch Knight, his side's clash with the Hawks on Saturday is a prime opportunity to kick-start their run home and edge ahead in the race for the finals.
City sit fourth, four points behind Cardiff, but if they win today they could jump into third on percentages. They would also potentially move further ahead of fifth-placed Warners Bay, who loom as the only other challenger outside of the top four that could make the finals. City have at least one more game to play this season than both Warners Bay and Cardiff, but Knight doesn't want his side relying on that advantage.
"We're looking OK but it's a fairly big game for us," he said. "If we can beat Cardiff, we'll probably go into third spot.
"We've played a couple of less games than everyone else, but we've got a couple of tough games in the back end of the year. We've definitely got expectations of making the top four and playing finals, but we've got to make sure we win the games to get there."
The match is scheduled to be played at Hawkins Oval, but Knight thought it would likely be relocated from the Wickham field.
If it goes ahead, it would be City's first home game this season. With No.1 Sportsground still out of action after a makeover, City had intended to use Hawkins Oval this season but it was damaged by a music festival earlier this year.
The side has been forced to play scheduled home fixtures at the grounds of clubs like Warners Bay and Cardiff.
Knight said it was a far from ideal situation, but his team had got on with it - much like they have without their waterlogged Carrington training pitch in recent weeks.
"We managed to get a basketball court Tuesday and Thursday we did an F45 [gym] session," he said. "It's been a bit of a pain. We were supposed to get on Hawkins two weeks ago but we've had two washouts since."
City remain without Josh Taylor, who continues to recover from a finger injury, and will also be missing Nick Anderson, Noah MacDonald and Harrison Keast against Cardiff due to other commitments.
"A couple of outs but I think we've still got a fairly strong side," the coach said.
Warners Bay travel south to face Terrigal Avoca, while Killarney Vale and Maitland clash at Dick Burwell Oval in Nelson Bay.
