Reigning premiers Northern Suburbs are staring down the barrel of a third straight loss this weekend when they take on Eastwood at North Sydney Oval.

With head coach Simon Cron away with the Australian U20s, the Shoreman have fallen short against Manly and Randwick in recent weeks after remaining unbeaten in the opening six rounds.

“There’s no panic, we’re just disappointed that we put pressure on ourselves by making simple errors that are unacceptable at this level,” interim coach Will Eggleston told Rugby News.

“We’ve made more than 30 handling errors in our last two games and you can’t expect to compete with those sort of numbers.”

Eggleston said his side has focussed on their basic skills this week and were looking for better execution and an all round team effort against Eastwood.

“They’re a strong physical side and are always tough to play against. They’ve got some strong carriers and some pace on the edges.”

Despite Norths’ recent losses, Woodies coach Stu Woodhouse doesn’t think the reigning premiers are vulnerable.

“Norths are an incredibly hard working team and they’re right strong across the park so we’ll have to at our best to have a chance.”

After a disappointing loss to West Harbour in round six, Eastwood came from behind to draw with Randwick before beating Southern Districts 27-12 last weekend.

Woodhouse said he’s pleased with his sides opening half of the season.

“Our work ethic and attitude in defence was great last week against Souths. It’s been those fundamentals that have won us difficult games so far this year,” he said.

“We were pretty good in the first four rounds and then we had some serious injuries to some of our key personnel and that unsettled our young group.”

Eastwood can jump ahead of Norths into second spot with a win on Saturday.