The run towards the finals begins on Saturday when round 10 begins and there are a number of interesting match ups.

Randwick and Souths both need a win to push their way towards the top six, while Uni and Warringah can both give their premiership credentials a serious boost with a win on Rat Park at Saturday.

Randwick v Southern Districts

Randwick and Southern Districts both aren’t where they’d like to be at the halfway point of the season, yet both sides seem confident that they can turn things around in 2018.

The Galloping Greens have just two wins to their name so far this year, but coach Owen Finegan doesn’t think his side is too far off the pace.

“We don’t need any significant changes. We just need to limit the errors that we are making because they are stalling our momentum and stopping us from winning tight matches,” the former Wallaby said.

Randwick will be without UK bound pair Andrew Kellaway and Dave Horwitz but Finegan is confident that his troops are capable of getting things back on track, starting on Saturday against Souths at Coogee.

“We’re expecting a grand final type intensity from Southern Districts. They improved against Norths and will be looking to step it up again. Both teams will be desperate for points to keep their seasons alive.”

The week off probably didn’t come at the best time for the Rebels after they produced their best performance of the year to beat Norths in round nine.

Despite that, captain Marcus Carbone said the side used the week off well.

“We didn’t want to take our foot off the pedal so we used the first week to freshen bodies up with less contact, but continued to drive our structures and set piece. This week we were back to our normal regime,” the backrower said.

Souths find themselves in a similar position to 2017 after a slow start to the year but Carbone said the group wasn’t feeling the pressure just year

“A tight competition has its pro and cons. Anyone can beat anyone, so although you might be feeling the pressure of sitting outside the six, a couple of wins and some results going your way can completely flip the ladder.

“Most of our losses this year have been tight and we took plenty of confidence out of the win against Norths.

“Plus we’ve got a number of senior players set to return in the next month and that will help build confidence and depth within the group.”

Manly v Parramatta

Manly coach Billy Melrose admitted its difficult to judge how far off his third placed side is from being full strength at the midway point of the season.

“We’ve had a lot of new players put their hand up so far this year. The injuries aren’t going to stop but hopefully we will start to get a better idea of our best 15 soon and then get some consistent time playing together,” he said.

“There are a few familiar faces getting back on the field so it’ll be interesting to see how they perform.”

Melrose has named former Brumby Robbie Coleman at fullback for Saturday’s clash against his former club Parramatta and said patience and ball retention was the key for his side this weekend.

“You can’t get bored watching us play at the moment, we rarely keep the ball for long enough to do that. I love our attacking spirit, but we just need to see patience as a friend, not an enemy.”

Parramatta coach Paul Hardwick has named a new look side to take on the Marlins, with several Two Blues set to make their first grade run on debuts this weekend.

“Those guys are all really excited about the opportunity,” Hardwick said.

“We trialled well against Manly this year, however, a lot of water has passed under the bridge since then. We’re certainly capable of producing an upset this weekend, however, we will need to be at our very best.

“Manly have been playing some very good rugby and have plenty of points in them. But if we maintain possession and return the ball from our own half positively, I am confident we will be in with a good showing.”

Gordon v Eastwood

2018 certainly hasn’t gone to plan for those at Chatswood Oval but new coach Kolose Feaunati is optimistic heading into the second half of the season.

“There has definitely been a shift in attitude and I think everyone at the club now has a real the willingness learn,” Feaunati said.

“You can expect to see a new Gordon team that will play for each other for the remainder of this season.”

But it won’t be easy for the Highlanders who host an Eastwood side on Saturday who have dropped just one match in the last six rounds.

“This weekend is all about us. Gordon are an improving team so we can’t afford to take them lightly. We want to play to our standards and continue to improve every week,” Woodies assistant coach Ben Batger said.

While Eastwood can secure their spot in the top six with a win on Saturday, Batger thinks his side can still be more consistent.

“We’ve proved that we can get up for the big games like Uni or Warringah, but being able to do that week in week out is what the best teams do and we want to be the best.”

Northern Suburbs v Eastern Suburbs

Norths produced their worst performance of 2018 against Souths before the mid year break and were punished with their first defeat of the year.

While the Shoreman still sit comfortably in second spot, Shannon Fraser is keeping his whip handy in his first year in charge at North Sydney Oval.

“Our expectations are really high, so it’s fair to say we’re not content with what we’ve produced so far. It’s important that we keep pushing ourselves to be better,” he said

“The standard of our competition is improving rapidly so we’re going to have to start to produce some better performances, if we are serious about playing on the 1st of September 2018.”

Easts have been forced to wait 21 days to make amends for a disappointing finish against Warringah back in round 8, but they haven’t spent all their time off at Bondi.

“It was more like a seven day break in the end. We trained as per usual in the bye week and had a tough Saturday session to replace the fixture we were meant to play. We then returned for the Monday last week and gave them a good hiding for an hour and a half,” Beasties coach Pauli Taumoepeau said.

“The tell on the past 2 weeks will come on Saturday. The boys have returned to training looking fresh but it’s hard to know until game day.”

Easts face five teams currently in the top six in the next five weeks but Taumoepeau said his side wasn’t looking past Norths this weekend.

“Norths are winners. They know how to grind out a win and seem to know what works and what doesn’t for them,” he said.

“They’re well led and have had some consistent voices in Nick Duffy and Angus Sinclair. Despite the changes in their team in recent weeks if you have the same voices saying the same things it often helps the new guys settle in.”

Warringah v Sydney University

The defending premiers host the competition leaders in an intriguing clash at Rat Park on Saturday.

Warringah have outmuscled their last few opponents, particularly in the back end of matches, but Darren Coleman thinks his boys might have a tougher time this weekend.

“It will be interesting to see what affect the much bigger forward pack they have picked this week will have.”

“Uni are fit, fast, skilful and not afraid to make mistakes. They score more tries than anyone else with less ball than anyone else so it’ll be interesting.”

Keep an eye out of the Rats new No.8 on Saturday, who has one of the more unusual Shute Shield recruitment stories.

“Potu Leavasa came to a session and sat on a nearby park bench and watched. I noticed a 120kg Samoan sitting watching us train so went and introduced myself,” Coleman said.

“He’s been vigilant and committed since that day and has really earned his spot in first grade.”

Sydney Uni will be without their Waratahs players this weekend but Rob Taylor said his young side is looking forward to heading north to test themselves against the defending premiers.

While Uni and Warringah have similar defensive records, the Students have outscored the Rats by more than 11 points a match so far this year.

“We’ve spent a lot of time preparing for this game,” Taylor said.

“Warringah have a very good lineout and scrum as well as a balanced backline that can do a lot. It’s going to be a good test.”