A Grade Match Report:
With the vital second spot on the ladder position up for grabs we where not going to miss this opportunity considering we fell short the last two times we meet the Crusaders. After a less than perfect training session on Tuesday night I was hoping we could turn it around on Thursday and we did. Missing a couple of regular first grade forwards from the run on team and injuries and unavailability to a couple of key backs it was time for a few of our fringe and reserve grade players to step up and show there wares.
I am proud to say the boys are beginning to show sense of urgency when it comes to preparing for games which allow us to get in, get the job done and mentally switch on for the game. Right from the opening we took it to our larger opponents and I must say I liked seeing the boys put their bodies on the line with no fear of pain. The intensity was great except for a couple of minor mistakes, which cost dearly when the crusaders would cross the line first. Even with the initial set back the boys where showing a lot of promise, and I knew we had the staying power. We would score next thru some great work up the center then to see the ball fly out to Justin Brown to score in the corner. Southside came back to score again but it would be their last try of the first half, neither of their tries came from the Crusaders usual flair and ability to throw the ball around with results. Instead their tries came from errors on our behalf. Brownie and Lee Boylan would score another try each to give us a 22 to 12 lead also with the assistance of some great kicking from Dion Pryor.
After the half time break the plan was to get the bonus point for the fourth try then kick out to a safe lead as well as trying to keep them scoreless. We managed to pick up our fourth try through the backs hands and out wide to the right against the tiring Southside back line. We managed to execute quite well all over the paddock and with the injection in the second half from Tim Scott and Jordan Massey we could see us finishing strongly. We managed to force errors on our opponents and even had a bit of luck go our way for once. In the end we managed to forge out a great victory even with the Crusaders scoring a late try of their own.
Final Score JCU Mariners 33 (Justin Brown 2, Lee Boylan 1 and Shannon Mackey 1 Tries Dion Pryor 2 conversions and 3 penalties) defeated Southside Crusaders 17 (3 Tries and 1 conversion)
3,2,1’s this week went to 1 point Joey Webb
2 points Oscar Fasavalu
3 points Justin Brown
And the Managers Mug went to Joey Webb, hope it went well for him. With 4 games to go we still have work to do and no game is going to be a definite win or loss so attitude and application is essential. Keep up the good work and August will result in some definite cheer.
– Dave ‘Norto’ Norton
Reserve Grade Match Report:
With player’s slowly filtering back from injury, for the first time in 3 weeks we had something that resembled a bench. With stiffer competition this week, the boys new that like the previous 2 weeks this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. Again our aim was to take hold of the game and play our game plan much like what we had been doing for the Atherton games. It didn’t take long before we achieved this, with the forwards hitting the ball up strongly, the platform was laid and the backs quickly got into the rhythm of scoring tries. Again reserve grade dominated the game with the final score being 58 – 7.
Well done boys.
– Alex Costello
