Marsh vs Morton on at Moerewa

Although they both may profess otherwise, the clash of the coaches will take centre stage at tomorrow's Bartercard Cup encounter between the Northern Storm and the Counties-Manukau Jetz at Moerewa.
The match is a bottom of the table, must win four-pointer between the 11th and 12th placed teams but the clash between the Storm's current coach Phil Marsh and former coach Geoff Morton - who is in charge of the Jetz this year - will certainly add to the spectacle of the game.
Following on from the news earlier this week that the Bartercard Cup competition will be scrapped at the end of this season - the performance of their respective teams will be under the microscope.
Marsh has the benefit of drawing on a fairly established looking side this weekend but they need to improve on last week's defeat - albeit in shocking conditions - against the Wellington Orcas.
"Energy and desire wise, we need to be a bit smarter with the ball and try and get through our sets, rather than giving the ball away after two or three tackles, which was a big problem for us last week," Marsh said.
"We're expecting Counties to be a lot stronger than they were in the first round, but I'm hoping that the home ground advantage will get us home. If we play to our potential, we should be good enough to beat them."
Morton said that the close proximity of club playoffs was giving him selection headaches ahead of tomorrow's game, but he was confident he would bring a strong team to Moerewa.
"We're heading North with the aim of winning, we're not coming up to make up the numbers, but we're experiencing the same sort of problems that we did last year, of not always being able to field the best team we can, every week," he said.
The South Auckland-based coach has been battling with many of his feeder clubs about player availability this season but he will bring a couple of players with him who played for the Storm last season - including last year's top try-scorer Henry Godinet.
If the rain holds off, a big crowd is expected at Moerewa tomorrow, which should help the Storm's cause.
Moerewa club coach Bill Mackey said the club was delighted to get the opportunity to host the Storm tomorrow, with the local premier grade club match between Moerewa and Northern Wairoa set to kick off the entertainment, as a curtain raiser at 1pm.
"It's going to be big, not just for the club but the whole region as well, it's going to give league fans in the Bay of Islands and Kaitaia a chance to see two big games," Mackey said.
The club will also benefit from a decent-sized donation from the Bartercard franchise for hosting the game and it also gives their netball club and junior club an opportunity to fundraise among the spectators.
Mackey said it is also a good opportunity for the Storm's four Moerewa players to perform well in front of their home crowd, who don't always get the opportunity to attend the Storm's games.
The other two matches tomorrow in the Whangarei and Districts Rugby League is the top of the table encounter between Takahiwai and the Hikurangi Stags at Tikipunga, with Marist taking on Portland at Otaika Park.