Flood-inspired wins

Loved ones’ plights spurred touch teams

THE imagery of friends and family doing it tough back home has inspired success for Cairns Pirates players at the National Touch League.

Innisfail’s Kristian Congoo won a third consecutive title with the Queensland Cowboys in a nailbiting finals series while seven Cairns-based players helped North Queensland Tropical Cyclones over the line in the inaugural over-60s competition.

Cyclones player-coach Brian Prove said it was hard to focus on footy considering the impact of the fierce weather in the Far North, but they rallied to lead from start to finish in a 5-4 final win against Sydney Scorpions.

“The team we played in the final beat us in both the round games, so they went into the final heavy favourites,” he said.

“What I put it down to is our team, we get on really well together and we just dug deep for each other.

“A lot of our families were all flood-bound. There was not much we could do so we thought: ‘Let’s do the best we can’.”

Prove said it was “special” to capture a third crown as a group after competing at the event for close to 30 years.

“We know how hard it is to win one. It’s really special.”

Frank Stampa, who scored the winning try in the semifinal to put the Cyclones in the decider, was player of the final.

Pirates star Kristian Congoo said it was a relief to get away with the Elite Eight title after both the semi-final and final went to extra time.

“We put a lot of training into the camp before we go away and work on our fitness and that, and it all just came together throughout the carnival,” he said.

“Teams are pretty much trying to mimic what we do now, but it was a lot harder this year.”

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