Junior title is Stingrays’ to lose, says coach
THE in-form Gold Coast Stingrays are closing on the first junior title of the SEQ gridiron competition.
With one round of the regular season to go, coach Lance Tongakilo predicted the team, aged 14 to 16, had a good chance of hoisting the trophy in a few weeks’ time. Sitting at the top of the table, with a draw as their weakest result, the Stingrays continued their dominance with a 42-14 win over the Sunshine Coast Spartans at Glennon Park at the weekend.
Despite the recent bad weather affecting training, Tongakilo said the team was confident heading into the game.
He said this was translated onto the field and he was happy with the Stingray’s performance.
“The team played really well. They have all year and as long as they do their job, they’ll be fine,” Tongakilo said.
Heading towards finals he’s confident of the team’s chances and said they had been putting in the hard yards.
“They’ve got the right attitude and want to put in the extra work to be successful,” Tongakilo said.
However, the Stingrays aren’t taking anything for granted.
“We should be the favourites but it’s football. Anything can happen in football,” Tongakilo said.
Meanwhile, the colts trounced the Spartans 58-6, the men’s team bounced back to form at the right time, defeating the Moreton Bay Raptors 55-8, and the women narrowly lost 16-20 to the Bayside Ravens.