Team peaking at right time: Payne
COACH Aaron Payne believes the Townsville Blackhawks have hit their best form at the right stage of the Queensland Cup season following a 60-6 demolition of the Northern Pride at Jack Manski Oval.
The 54-point thrashing was the third biggest win in the Blackhawks’ history and their biggest over their North Queensland rivals as the Pride slumped to another low in their disastrous 2019 campaign.
Winger Kalifa Faifai Loa set the tone for a blistering start as the Blackhawks piled on three tries inside the first 10 minutes, with winger Michael Bell and five-eighth Jaelen Feeney also scoring.
Hooker Josh Chudleigh then darted over from dummy half as the Blackhawks were racing the clock at 20-0 after just 15 minutes.
A mistake from the kickoff gifted the Pride an attacking chance but they came up empty-handed as the Blackhawks continued to rip their defence to shreds, with Bell and Chudleigh both scoring doubles.
Centre Bacho Salam then scored an impressive try to ensure the Blackhawks went into halftime with a commanding 36-0 lead.
Pride backrower Terrence Casey-douglas was sinbinned after a run of penalties early in the second half as Temone Power crossed for the Blackhawks to make it 42-0.
Jake Marketo extended Townsville’s lead before a fortuitous deflection from a kick finally got the Pride on the board as five-eighth Jordan Biondi-odo picked up the scraps to make it 48-6.
But it was only a brief disruption for the rampant Blackhawks as Power muscled his way over to grab his second try before Faifai Loa put the exclamation point on the record thrashing.
Townsville’s attack has let them down at times this season but Payne felt they had shown their professionalism against the Pride to notch their fifth win in a row.
“It’s good that we’re starting to get some confidence about what we’re doing in attack,” Payne said.
“They were pretty professional about it. Often when you get in front like that the easy thing to do is just to relax, but I thought they kept attacking the whole game.
“I know the Pride weren’t at their best and they were down a bit, but the things that we wanted to work on in attack we did and we did really well.
“We’re making some really good steps in the right direction at the right time of the year.”
The Pride’s frustrations boiled over late as prop Mat Laumea punched Blackhawks lock Tom Gilbert, which resulted in both players being sent to the sin bin along with Chudleigh for running in.