PRIDE WELL BEATEN BY BLACKHAWKS
ILL-DISCIPLINE and a tendency to slip back into the “bad habits” that plagued last season came to the fore as the Northern Pride fell to the Townsville Blackhawks 34-6 on the weekend.
In their second competitive hitout of the pre-season, the Pride were outscored six-triesto-one on a soggy Saturday afternoon at Barlow Park, in a performance that left a lot to be desired by the club’s faithful in attendance.
Coach Ty Williams conceded his side were “a bit off the mark”, but said there was no need to ring the alarm bells just yet, with the start of the season still three weeks away.
“The end result wasn’t ideal but we showed some improvement in areas, but we also went back to a little bit of bad habits,” he said.
“I’m glad we got that trial, just due to the fact that they (Blackhawks) are a very good football team.
“We know there’s a lot of areas we need to fix very quickly, but I think that’s probably the indicator of where we need to be heading.”
Williams said his side shot themselves in the foot with their ill-discipline early in the match.
He said while it was pleasing to see players take a bit of mongrel onto the field, they needed to be better at controlling it and using it effectively.
“Obviously with the penalty count, we were pretty ill-disciplined there and I think that killed us,” he said.
“We were a lot more aggressive than what we have been in the past, which was the pleasing thing, but we need to understand when we need to use it and how we need to use it – that’s where we got stung pretty early.”
The coach said players would now switch focus to the club’s final pre-season trial against the PNG Hunters at Barlow Park this Saturday.
“We went with 23 (players against the Blackhawks), which was probably a bit too many,” he said.
“We’re just trying to find a key set sequence which was probably a bit of a struggle for us. Next week we’ll cut the squad down and have a look against the Hunters.
“We know we’re a bit off the mark at the moment but that’s fine, we’re still three weeks away from the competition so let’s not get carried away.
“We’ll just make sure we improve, we learn from what we did tonight and go forward from there.”
Prop Taulata Fakalelu was sin-binned in the match for repeated infringements in the ruck, while winger Bernard Lewis was placed on report for a shoulder charge late in the game.
The Hunters also opened their pre-season schedule on the weekend, defeating Central Queensland Capras 30-12 in Port Moresby.