Pride up to top-tier test

NORTHERN Pride coach Ty Williams says his side is relishing the challenge posed by a Souths Logan outfit bursting with NRL talent.

Code-swapping former Kangaroos, Maroons and Brisbane Broncos star fullback Karmichael Hunt has been named at centre, while current Broncos squad member Cory Paix is at No.9.

But Williams doesn’t expect the top-tier talent to stop there, with the likes of John Asiata, Tom Dearden and Tesi Niu all chances of being last-minute inclusions.

“Obviously Anthony Milford was outstanding against the Cutters two weeks ago. I think Dearden will fill that spot in where Milf was previously, and Albert Kelly’s been exceptional for them as well, so we’re going to have to be on our game across the board,” he said.

“Karmichael’s in at left centre for them, so Grant Anderson’s tasked to another NRL centre – a couple of weeks ago he had (Esan) Marsters on his case, whereas this week it’s going to be Karmichael.

“Tesi Niu will probably come back in there somewhere as well, maybe at his natural one position, so we need to be on our game with our kick chase.

“It’s a good challenge coming out of the break.”

Williams said the side would now concentrate on its next block of games after taking the opportunity to hit the reset button during the competition-wide bye week.

“That was probably the biggest thing for us,” he said.

“We’ve got to remember, over the first five weeks of the competition we played four heavyweights straight away.

“That’s no disrespect to the Capras, but we played Sunny Coast, Blackhawks, Norths and Wynnum, who are all tipped to be top-four teams, and I thought we were very sound against them.

“The guys deserved a bit of a break, which they did have, and we’ll re-engage again now and really start to focus on the next month ahead of us.

“At the moment, we’re sitting OK, but I think this next period’s going to be very important for our season moving forward.”

The Pride sit in sixth spot after five rounds, with two wins, two losses and a draw.

In their first five games of the season, including Saturday’s clash against the Magpies, the Pride have only played top-eight teams.

After Souths Logan, the Pride are set to face thirdplaced Tweed Seagulls.

Gates open at 3.15pm at Barlow Park, with the Pride Under-21s in action at 3.45pm before the Intrust Super Cup game kicks off at 5.30pm.