Carney to play Pride trial game

WORLD Cup stars are being kept on ice but Todd Carney is expected to play the Northern Pride’s first trial match against Mackay Cutters this weekend.

Northern Pride coach Ty Williams said after a long offseason following a below-par 2017, players were keen to finally get a chance to make their mark in Townsville on Saturday.

The forward pack is set to be the most hotly-contested position in 2018 and every player is set to have their turn in the opening two trials.

“They’ve covered a lot of miles for the good and we’ve got ourselves back into shape,” Williams said.

“It’s a long off-season. Obviously that happens when you don’t make finals and we’ve been pretty positive, we’ve set ourselves a standard where we want to be and I’m keen to see how the guys go.

“We’ll mix it up with a few new guys, a few of the 20s and a couple of train-and-trialists as well, just to give them experience. Our World Cup boys won’t play, just because they probably need another week.

“But after the Cairns Connection game, everyone will have played one trial and against Blackhawks is when we’ll pick our best 13.”

Williams said the intense training load would remain going into the season proper but become increasingly rolespecific

“The blokes that aren’t trialling this week will do different training components. The guys that are trialling will break it down and make sure they’re game-prepped,” he said. “In saying the next month will still be fairly intense for us.”