Our friendly with Brothers was not a bad start to the season in terms of ‘first games’. We had lots of good ball, lots of running, open play, and spent a majority of the time inside their 22. Scoring opportunities were plentiful, but we failed to convert the opportunities into points. The game itself wasn’t for points, but the 17 – 15 loss did reveal some telling weaknesses we appear to have. The first was the inability to convert. This time literally. It seems team members are not taking responsibility for their kit. Kicking tee’s in this case. But it is not just the tee’s, it is also washing the jerseys, bringing the water bottles, filling them and so on. It is left to a few people to do this with little support. And so, without a tee, none of our three tries were converted.
Ball handling was also a big problem. Whether it was being try hungry, bad passes, no depth, no target, drifting sideways in attack, not looking at the ball, whatever. From all accounts, there were 6 tries missed from ball handling and basic errors. Something(s) to work on…?
The first five minutes of the second half were also very strange with them running in two tries off the whistle. These lapses in defense were caused by team members lifting in a very staggered line leaving gaping holes behind them. We must lift as a team in one line.
It was a good game though for many other reasons. The amount of ball we turned over in the scrum and in the break downs was very encouraging. Well done! Our support play in attack and defense was good, as was the general effort in defense.
Many, many thanks to the A-Grade players that doubled up and supported the team to fill out the numbers. We really need people to get the word out for more numbers.
The points were: 1 point each to Shaun Jensen and Brian McCarthy for solid efforts, 2 points to Alan Herwig for his non-stop game, and 3 points to Michael Woodward for a tremendous effort all around. Managers Mug went to Rob Rodokal. He played a great game out of position. You can collect on the mug this weekend Rob Dog, but don’t worry guys, there will be a Managers Mug for the Atherton game as well. Bus trip to Port Douglas and Atherton this week. It should be fun!
