Eagles coach takes joy in solid defence
CURRUMBIN coach Ryan Gundry saw enough in his side’s scrappy 13-4 win over defending champions Runaway Bay to believe they can be a force this Rugby League Gold Coast season.
The Eagles were not convincing in the opening three rounds, losing to Southport and Burleigh and beating Ormeau, but they have since produced quality efforts to down Tugun and Bay.
In front of their supporters at Galleon Way, the Daniel Mortimer-less Currumbin went close to shutting out Bay before hooker Jenan Parrish got his side on the board late.
Gundry was pleased overall: “Our attack still needs a lot of work obviously but we identified a few things (on Saturday) where I think we might have an advantage over a few teams.
“I saw that against a physical Runaway Bay pack of forwards.”
Gundry declined to share those insights in greater detail but praised his players.
“They’re all really young. They’re still learning and it’s
just a matter of trying to blend all of that youth and enthusiasm into being able to polish a game of footy,” he added.
“It is a different challenge to last year; I had those senior heads last year, they knew what to do down in the crunch, they knew where we needed to get to and who we needed to get to and stuff like that.
“We have been doing a bit of different stuff this year … I think it’s really helping us out. But defensively, you can’t teach that attitude and the young fellas are turning up every week and putting their bodies on the line, which is the most pleasing thing for me.”
There was a scare when captain Phil Ramage – who has switched from the halves to fullback this year to capitalise on his positional play and experience – was carefully helped from the field in the second half.
Gundry however calmed concerns, downplaying it as nothing more than a “sore neck.”
Runaway Bay were forced to deploy a makeshift halves pairing for the clash with four playmakers unavailable and that crisis deepened as Keanu Rimene suffered a broken hand. Bay mentor Nick Gleeson was happy with his players’ effort but noted execution was lacking and declared Currumbin’s form during the past fortnight had come as no surprise to him.
Yesterday, Tim Cassidy scored a hat-trick in Tugun’s 46-18 win over Bilambil, while Burleigh beat Southport 24-10.