Stingrays’ run at an end

Eighth title off the cards after defeat to Rhinos

DISAPPOINTED, for more.

The Stingrays’ seven-year reign may be over, but coach Dave Hill is confident they’ll be back hoisting the trophy next season.

The men lost 40-28 to the Brisbane Rhinos in their Gridiron Queensland semi-finals on Saturday, ending their hope of eight straight titles.

“It wasn’t the result we were but ready hoping for, or expecting. It was disappointing,” he said.

Coming off the back of a 58-0 trouncing of the Toowoomba Valley Vultures last week, the Stingrays were confident of reaching the finals.

“We’d put in a lot of preparation and studied the Rhinos’ game. We head a solid game plan heading in,” Hill said.

This wasn’t enough. “We were slow off the blocks in the first half and let them score too many points. We were 33-7 down at the end of the first half, which was too much to come back from,” he said.

After a patchy season, the men finished the regular competition at fourth with four wins, two losses and two draws.

Their streak was in jeopardy early in the season with an injury-riddled team struggling to win games.

“We had an up-and-down season and that showed in the results. At times we showed what we were capable of and at others not so much,” Hill said.

Despite the disappointing result, Hill is raring to get going and prove what the Stingrays are really made of.

“We’re already focusing on next season. We’ll get back into it in the off-season and make sure we’re well and truly ready when next season comes around,” he said.

“I’m really excited to keep developing and next year we’ll be right in contention again.”

Meanwhile, the Colts are through to the final after a 46-0 drubbing of Griffith Thunder. Coach Chris Nguyen said the team played well, but would work on being aggressive in defence in training this week.

“For the finals we’ll go in hard and fast and hopefully come out with another win,” he said.

In other games, the women’s season ended with a narrow 12-16 loss to Griffith Thunder and the juniors a 14-30 loss to the Sunshine Coast Spartans.