WHY FOOTBALL’S CRAD EVANS SHIELD IS SO IMPORTANT

MA OLYMPIC coach Gianni Rantucci said last weekend’s semi-final loss to Warriors was a “wake-up call” as the North Queensland Football premiers chase the region’s most prestigious trophy.

Olympic will travel to Cairns on Saturday night to take on Far North premiers Edge Hill for the annual Crad Evans Shield, which pits the top sides from Townsville and Cairns against each other.

Edge Hill are shooting for a historic treble this season by adding the Crad Evans to being league champions and grand final winners, following their 2-1 win over Marlin Coast last weekend.

Olympic are still in the thick of the NQF premier league season with a preliminary final clash against Wulguru United next weekend, but Rantucci was adamant that they wouldn’t hold back in the Crad Evans.

“It’s the shield that brings the two zones together to claim the bragging rights as the best team in the North,” Rantucci said. “That’s the whole prestige to winning the premiership so you can take on the best from the North in the Crad Evans Shield.

“(Edge Hill) are coming off a grand final win so they’ve got their tails up and we’re coming off a loss so we’re going to have to work pretty hard to get ourselves prepared for the weekend. It’s been in the back of our minds for the last couple of weeks so we need to refocus quickly and get on with the task.”

Olympic finished 14 points clear to win the NQF premiership, but Rantucci felt that belied how close the competition was this season following their 2-0 semi-final defeat to Warriors last weekend.

“Warriors’ game plan against us worked very well, so we need to learn from that,” he said. “It’s not a case of what went wrong. It’s a case of what we’ve got to do better to address some of our weaknesses that Warriors exposed.