Carucci becomes centre of attention
EDMONTON Storm junior Ty Carucci has been punching above his weight this season and the Townsville Blackhawks centre will be no pushover against the Northern Pride.
The Cowboys under-20 graduate was due to make his way to Cairns for 2017 but study options kept him in Townsville.
He probably didn’t expect to be playing in the outside backs after spending his development years as a five-eighth.
Blackhawks coach Kristian Woolf said Carucci had taken the positional change head-on and proven well up to the task of playing senior footy.
“I just think the best part of his game was his running game so being at centre he can run a bit more and he’s also got those crossover skills from playing five-eighth and he’s got those footy smarts about him,” he said. “He’s obviously a young bloke in the competition who has come up from the under-20s, which is really good quality footy but it’s still a bit of a change, especially in the physicality, but we’re really happy with how he’s going.”
The ball-playing skill has certainly been a win for his winger Jonathon Reuben, who has been the club’s best metregainer and the third best in the Intrust Super Cup so far this season. Woolf said while players were excited to be playing for the Foley Shield, the fierce rivalry with the Pride had been an afterthought this week as his side seeks to end a twomatch losing streak.
“We obviously haven’t been happy with how we’ve been going the past couple of weeks. We’ve played two good teams but we haven’t played to the standard we expect,” he said.