Lack of artificial FNQ pitch astounds

CAIRNS FC coach Danny Graystone says he’s shocked the region does not have an artificial pitch to keep players on the park in wet weather.

While there is no problem with the club’s regular playing surface at Barlow Park in any conditions, heavy rain this week may put a dampener on preparations for the NPL side going into a crunch match with Brisbane Strikers this Sunday.

Graystone joined the club from South Australia last season and said coming from somewhere with “about 15” or more artificial pitches, it was hard to comprehend why the weather-affected Far North did not have the same luxury.

Cairns FC players had a session at Fit 360 interactive training this week and has the option of using the Redlynch Central Sports Stadium, but Graystone said there was nothing like being on a fullsize pitch.

“To be quite honest, having indoor training is pretty futile for an 11-a-side game,” he said.

“It gets a bit of workrate into the lads but we need to be on a full-size pitch.

“I can’t believe, I don’t think there’s a full-size Astroturf pitch here in Cairns. With the amount of water we have, it is unusual.”

But the change up could help his side mentally prepare to take on the Strikers on Sunday.

Graystone had considered the possibility players had been overworked in the wake of the loss to Brisbane City, but all but one of them admitted it was a mental lapse rather than anything physical.

“It’s always a balance with semi-professional teams, because you have players that do different jobs,” he said.

“You’ve got some players who go out and labour all day and you’ve got other players who sit in an office and can cope with the workload.

“We’ve got to look at it a little bit more in-depth ... but we always look to improve every week, looking to improve what we do with the players and seeing if we can get that a little bit faster, a little bit stronger, a little bit better tactically, so there’s a couple of things we’ve looked at.”