ONE man who won’t be at Carrington Park on Sunday but will be hanging on frequent updates from some of his former teammates is St Pats’ 2007 captain-coach Chris Osborne.

Osborne will be unable to attend the Group 10 premier league decider between his old club and the Mudgee Dragons but says he will be desperately hoping to see the trophy go to the Bathurst team.

“I haven’t managed to watch any St Pat’s games this year so all I’ve heard is rumours and so forth about how they’ve been going but obviously Kevin Grimshaw has done a great job with the boys and it is great to see them in the grand final,” Osborne said.

“I know that Trent Hemsworth has really been having a dig and playing some good football.”

Osborne has taken up a post with the Grafton Rhinos on the NSW North Coast since guiding the Saints into the top three last season before they bowed out in the semi-finals.

He says that he is not surprised to see the club in its current situation.

“We had been in the semi-finals since Dave Scott came back to the club in 2000 and I think success was always going to come again after the premiership in 2001,” he said.

“I still keep in touch with a lot of the boys especially Kevin and Trent and I certainly wish them all the best on Sunday.

“I think it would be very fitting if they could win after what happened before the season had even started with Dave [Scott] passing away and my thoughts will certainly be with everyone.”

Osborne says that he thinks St Pat’s have what it takes to knock over the Dragons having beaten them in their last three encounters.