Kurri Kurri sit equal first on the ladder, but they have yet to play The Vintage – the team sharing top spot.

Branxton is snapping at their heels in outright third, the only team they have lost to so far being The Vintage.

Branxton captain Tony Lamb said the return of an in-form Mark Hale to his team should give them the edge they need to topple their rivals.

“He won the Karuah Cup last Saturday with six under par, so he’s in a bit of form,” Lamb said.

“Hopefully having him will give a boost to the rest of the team.”

Hale is playing top seed, with Lamb at number two and Mick Tracey at three.

Fourth seed Adrian Chomiszak has proven a useful member of

the team, winning all three of his matches so far.

Lee Houston plays in fifth position, with Ricky Bush in sixth and Mark Moyland in seventh.

“It’s not a bad team and we’ve been getting a lot more interest with our local A-grade players since we’ve been doing well,” he said.

“We’ve been rotating a lot of juniors in and out of the side, but our junior team is playing Maitland this week and they’re competition leaders, so we’ve lost a few of our regular juniors to that.”

Lamb was confident his team could play well at Singleton.

“You’ve got to keep the ball in play there, otherwise it can be hard,” he said.

“I hear it’s in pretty good nick too.”

Branxton won their opening match 4.5 to 2.5 against Stonebridge and their third 5-2 against Singleton.

They came up against The Vintage in their second match and lost 5-2.

“We’re on a bit of a high with our performances so far and we really want to win,” Lamb said. “I’m pretty confident we can win it.”

In other matches, Maitland has the challenge of facing home side Singleton, but last year’s grand finalists will be boosted by the inclusion of Scott Pryke and Andrew Auld.

Maitland have to win all four of their last matches to make finals after a lacklustre start of two losses.

The Vintage take on Stonebridge, whose only victory so far was against Singleton in round two.

Muswellbrook will be looking for their second competition win against Scone.