At home, the Rhinos A-grade side got off to a good start in round one with an 88-run win against Katamatite as did the B-grade side with a three-wicket win against Finley.
Tomorrow both sides are away.
A-grade take on last season’s grand finalists Cobram while B-grade travel to play Tocumwal.
It will be a new test for both sides as Deni didn’t play Cobram away in a one-day match last season while Tocumwal’s B-grade side is a new addition to the competition this year, and also started their season with a win.
Rhinos A-grade coach Brad Todd said the team had a pleasing win, but the first match back has shown there is still room for improvement.
“It was good to get a win to start the year, but there is still some work to do, especially with our bowling,” he said.
“Fielding was good on the weekend so hopefully we can build on that and keep improving week to week.”
The Cobram side the Rhinos play this week have been the most dominant in recent years.
They have been in the last three grand finals winning premierships in the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons, losing last season’s decider to Nathalia by 23 runs.
The side started their season with a 17-run loss away against Barooga last week.
However, Todd said the Rhinos will be preparing to face a rejuvenated Cobram.
“I would think the Cobram team will be quite different from the one that played last week. They seemed to have a few key players missing, so we are expecting them to be ready to go, especially for their first home game of the year.
“Hopefully, our side won’t change too much so we can keep a consistent side from week to week; we have struggled in the past to get the same team out on a consistent basis.”
The Rhinos team is expected to be largely unchanged despite an injury last week to debutant Darcy Finn, who dislocated a finger.
Todd said the side would be focused on a better bowling display as the key to defeating Cobram.
“Depending on how Darcy’s finger injury improves, there shouldn’t be too many changes at this point.
“Our bowlers need to be able to hit line and length consistently as we were a bit erratic at times against Katamatite.”
In the junior cricket the Rhinos under-15s start their season tomorrow from 8.30am at Memorial Park, beginning the first day of their two-day game against Tocumwal.
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