The Blues, currently second on the ladder, make the trip to Wingham on Saturday to take a Tigers side in third place and in red hot form.

Wauchope wasn't generally mentioned in pre-season discussions concerning possible premiers. However, Boyd said he was always confident he had a team to challenge for a top three spot or better.

He said the Blues are a close knit group.

"There's no egos here,'' he assured.

"We all working together and they're willing to learn, that's the main thing.''

However, experience is a commodity Wauchope lacks, Boyd concedes this and said and there are going to be days like the Blues had against Taree a fortnight ago when they don't get things totally right. This match ended in a 22-22 draw after Wauchope led 22-10 with 11 minutes on the clock. Then second rower Kahlan Duncan was sin binned and this allowed the Bulls to back into the contest.

Boyd agreed this was his team's worst performance of the season. However, he said they had a couple of players out and a disrupted preparation.

"The majority of our players are only 22 or 23, it's a young side,'' Boyd said.

"It's hard to be up for every game of the season.''

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However, he said the Blues won't be daunted by the prospect of tackling the Tigers. Just the opposite, in fact.

"We're looking forward to it - it's going to be a good test,'' Boyd said.

But he added discipline is one area that must improve and he said the Blues can't afford to have players sitting in the sin bin against the Tigers.

He said the immediate aim will be to secure a top three berth, but he added the Blues still have an eye on either one or two.

"We'll definitely have to improve this weekend. I've only seen Wingham play once this year when we had them up here, but going on the scores they must be playing exceptional footy,'' Boyd said.

The Blues will welcome fullback Sam Watts back into the side after he missed the clash against the Bulls while second rower Josh Caruana is also expected to return.