Penalties bringing down Blackhawks
TOWNSVILLE Blackhawks coach Kristian Woolf has blasted his side’s discipline after they slumped to a 26- 6 loss to the Northern Pride at a waterlogged Jack Manski Oval on Saturday night.
The Blackhawks felt they had a point to prove following a disappointing loss to Ipswich last weekend, but poor handling and penalties were again an issue in their first home game of the season.
Townsville were still right in the contest trailing 12- 6 at halftime, but it was all the Pride in an error- riddled second half and Woolf conceded his side hadn’t shown enough respect for the ball.
“It’s a mindset, it’s an attitude,” the coach said.
“I thought we wanted to try and make things happen a little bit quickly and a bit easily rather than wanting to really tough the game out and back our defence and grind away with the opposition.
“For two weeks in a row we’ve just been way too ill- disciplined, with and without the ball, and giving the opposition way too much footy and beating ourselves more than anything else.
“The Pride did a good job in terms of how they controlled the ball when they had it and their kicking game is very good, which is what you get with Jake Clifford and Todd Carney in the halves.
“It’s a pretty simple game sometimes and it’s a flow- on effect.
“You build pressure and fatigue and you tend to find points, but we just weren’t willing to do that.”
The Pride drew first blood as controversial five- eighth Todd Carney, who is hoping to secure a deal with the Cowboys, found winger Murray Taulagi with a nice cutout pass in the corner.
Prop Darryn Schonig extended the Pride’s lead after the Blackhawks were penalised for an incorrect play the ball coming out of their own end before five- eighth Jaelen Feeney finally got the home side on the board to make it 12- 6 at the break.
The Blackhawks had their chances to level up in the second half, but errors continued to cost them as the conditions worsened, with young Pride halfback Jake Clifford taking control to score a double and seal his side’s maiden win over their North Queensland rivals.
Townsville face a tough road trip to Redcliffe this Saturday, but Woolf was confident there was no reason for the Blackhawks to start panicking after back- to- back losses this early in the season.
“It’s disappointing and we certainly need to fix a few things and fix them quickly, but at the same time, it’s round three, so it’s certainly not panic stations,” Woolf said.
“We haven’t lost ability.
“We might have lost a little bit of confidence out of two games, but that usually comes back if you’re willing to work really hard too.
“You win one game and you can turn that around really quickly,” he said.
“It’s just a matter of fixing a few things up and wanting to work a bit harder for each other.”