Our boys can tame Bears, says Woolf
TWEED Heads coach Ben Woolf says his players must use their youth to advantage if they are to threaten Burleigh in the Intrust Super Cup’s Gold Coast derby.
The Seagulls remain winless after a 28-10 loss to Souths Logan yesterday, while their Round 3 opponents, the Bears, have started the season with excellent wins over Sunshine Coast and Redcliffe.
Burleigh boast a powerful line-up that on paper would appear to have comparatively inexperienced Tweed covered.
But it’s that very advantage that Woolf is hoping to use against the 2016 premiers.
“We will have to,” he said, when asked if youthful enthusiasm was the key to rattling the hardened Bears.
“They have got a heap of NRL experience in their side and they have got a lot of their team back from the year they won it so they will be a tough challenge obviously.
“We will go out there and rip into them and hopefully control the ball and put them under pressure with our line speed.”
Woolf said weight of possession had considerably hampered his side in the first half at Davies Park as they fell to a 28-4 halftime deficit before digging in after the break.
“We just gave them too much possession early on pretty much and we didn’t defend our line well enough off the back of it,” he said. “They had an extra six or seven sets in the first half … they just wore us down in that first half.
“When we had a bit more even share of possession in the second half, we kept them to nil and scored six points which was better but we can’t afford to keep giving these other sides too much possession.”
Two games into his tenure, Woolf admitted there is plenty of room for improvement but feels they are making progress.
Speedy centre Brayden McGrady scored both of Tweed Heads’ tries in an effort that earned him equal honours as players’ player along with bench forward Jordan Aiono.
“He had some really good touches, Braydo. He is a skilful kid,” Woolf said.
The Seagulls v Bears derby will kick off at 1.10pm on Saturday at Piggabeen Sports Complex.