Brothers earn victory song over Storm

BROTHERS coach Robbie Swain says he savoured the team song more than usual yesterday afternoon following a disappointing draw to Yarrabah the week before.

The Brethren demolished Edmonton Storm at Stan Williams Park 70-6 in former captain Ben Fitzpatrick’s comeback game for the club yesterday.

While still disappointed in his side’s performance against the Seahwawks, Swain said the match served as a good chance to sharpen their skills ahead of an important clash against Atherton Roosters next week.

“We knew we needed to play well to get a win after last week’s performance. Yarrabah really kept us on our toes and I wanted a solid 80 minutes from the boys,” he said.

“Corey Child had a really strong game for us. It was good to see everyone take some initiative and stand up.

“I said to the guys we can’t take the team song for granted. It’s on us to deserve to sing the song each week.

“The game up at Atherton is going to be hard. I was just really happy that there weren’t any cheap penalties, or silly mistakes.”

After weighing up a return to the club for the last two weeks, Swain said Fitzpatrick finally pulled the trigger on Thursday and looked in good touch against the young Storm.

“Ben’s played about 30 years in A grade, so it’s good to have him back out of retirement. There’s no substitute for his experience,” he said. “If he’s anything like me, he would have come back for the mateship.” Ivanhoes 48 d Kangaroos 10 Brothers 20 d Edmonton 0 (on forfeit) Tully 20 d Mossman-Port Douglas 0 Atherton 42 d Southern Suburbs 0 Mareeba 20 d Yarrabah 0 NEXT WEEK Saturday, May 26 Mareeba v Mossman-Port Douglas, 7pm at Davies Park Atherton v Brothers, 7pm at Roosters Stadium Ivanhoes v Suburbs, 7pm at Smithfield Sunday, May 27 Yarrabah v Edmonton, 3pm at Jilara Oval Kangaroos v Brothers, 3pm Innisfail at Vico Oval