By MARK CASHMAN

Warringah will draw the curtain on the careers of four of their most loyal servants when they take on Northern Suburbs on Saturday.

Skipper Sam Ward, Josh Holmes and Rob Kelly will take their bow in the first grade game while earlier in the day Dave Feltscheer will say his playing goodbyes in the third grade game at Rat Park.

Warringah officials have tagged it ‘The Farewell Tour’ and have produced a number of videos that celebrate all four players’ time at the club.

Warringah coach Mike Ruthven is hoping to draw on the emotional energy that is sure to be on show at Narrabeen.

Speaking to the first grade trio Ruthven said: “All three have had long, successful careers at the club and all three deserve to go out with a win at home.

“The main message this week has been about us finishing the season on a positive note and ensuring the group play with the pride that is present at this club and more specifically in the first grade squad.

“When the shackles are off sometimes it generates a air of confidence and an ability to just go out and play with freedom.

“No less pressure though. We owe a good performance to ourselves and our loyal community who support us each and every week.

“North’s have proven they are a very good footy side and like to shift the ball so we have spoken a lot about our defence and our desire to be in the game for 80 minutes.”

Ruthven has been able to call in a few heavy hitters with Rory O’Connor and Sam Needs coming into the front row.

O’Connor has had some time away from footy to concentrate on his engineering studies at uni and at one stage was sounded out about joining another club.

But the time and the situation wasn’t right and he got some time on the field last weekend against Eastwood.

Needs has been trouble by a calf injury and will be needed to put some pressure on the Norths scrum which was very unstable against Sydney Uni last weekend.

Norths coach Earl Va’a has brought Jayden Lynch and Dewald Dekker into the Shoremen’s front row in an effort to fix the scrum that couldn’t dig in against the Students.

The Shoremen have also added a bit of size to their back row with the return to the starting side of Heinrich Brendel.

Norths defence worked quite well against Uni and will need to be aggressive and connected if they are to head into the finals with any sort of momentum.

They can maintain their second place on the ladder which will give them a double shot in the first week of the finals where one plays six, two plays five and three plays four.

A loss or not picking up a losing bonus point could well see them slip to as low as fifth.

The script for this one talks about a fond farewell to four of the Rats best so it will be fascinating to see how it all pans out.

WARRINGAH (1-15):

Rory O’Connor, Wes Thomas, Sam Needs, Alex O’Dell, Andrew Davies, Rory Suttor, Boyd Killingworth, Sam Ward (c), Josh Holmes, Ben Marr, Charlie Tupu, Robbie Nelson, Guy Reece, Esera Chee Kam, Tyson Davis.

NORTHERN SUBURBS (1-15):

Jayden Lynch, James Margan, Dewald Dekker, Dave Henaway, Declan Carroll, Brad Hemopo, Heinrich Brendel, Hugh Sinclair, Nick Duffy, Angus Sinclair, Reece Mau’u, Harry Burey, Nathan Russell, Kepu Lokotui, Max Burey.

IMAGE: RISING SUN PHOTOGRAPHY