Hunters loom large
TOWNSVILLE Blackhawks winger Levi Dodd has only experienced the physicality of the PNG Hunters on TV, but that’s enough to know he’s in for a fierce challenge when they take the field in Port Moresby on Sunday afternoon.
The Blackhawks are currently flying high in the Queensland Cup on the back of six straight wins, but they’ve never toasted victory in PNG and slumped to the worst defeat in the club’s history last year with a 42- 4 thrashing.
After a slow start to their maiden title defence this season, the Hunters have started to find some form with back- to- back wins and they’ll be an intimidating prospect on their home turf.
Dodd said he admired the passion of the PNG players and he was excited for the chance to come up against them for the first time.
“I’ve only heard a lot of good things about the crowd. It’s their number one sport and we saw how passionate they were when they won the comp last year,” Dodd said.
“It’s always hard against a team that plays on passion because they’re always working hard for each other and they’re very big bodies all around the park. They don’t get tired and their forwards ( show) the same speed as their backs. It’s going to be very interesting.”
Blackhawks coach Kristian Woolf has named an unchanged team for the trip to Port Moresby, with midseason recruit Zac Santo also in line to play after being included on an extended bench.
While he was keen to embrace the atmosphere in the rugby league- mad nation, Dodd said the Blackhawks had to focus on getting their own game right to keep their streak alive.
“There’s a lot of talk about it, but I think one thing that we’ve learnt from the past was don’t get too carried away on the opponent,” Dodd said.
“If we focus a bit more on us then we tend to get the job done, but in saying that it’s always going to be a tough game going over there.
“Everyone can see that they’re a tough, physical team so we need to be a lot better to put them away.”