Farina fixture growth hopes
NORTH Queensland open men’s coach Michael Brooks hopes to see the revived Frank Farina Cup expanded in future seasons to become a showpiece for football across regional Queensland.
Top players from the NQ Football and Football FNQ men’s and women’s premier divisions battled it out for the trophy, which was previously contested between NPL clubs from the two regions.
NQ Football claimed this year’s Cup after the second leg of the competition at Brolga Park on the weekend, with the men’s team prevailing 5-2 in a back-and-forth contest.
Football FNQ was victorious 3-2 in the open women but NQ Football already had the advantage after winning 3-1 in Cairns last month, with the overall prize decided across the two divisions.
There was only one game for the open men this year after Football FNQ was unable to field a team for the first leg in Cairns.
Brooks said the win over their traditional rivals was an exciting moment for the young NQ Football side but he believed players from both regions would only benefit from more representative games.
Junior players contest a Quad Series featuring Townsville, Cairns, Mackay, and Central Queensland, and Brooks believed the Frank Farina Cup could also include more teams next year.
“All the guys were pumped. Even when they were coming through in the junior ranks they all said that they loved beating Cairns,” he said.
“I’d actually like to see the Frank Farina Cup … in general grow. Hopefully it’s not just Townsville and Cairns next year.
“Mackay could become involved and go down to Rockhampton or Gladstone as well. Just get some other regions involved.
“You love playing at club level but then when you play at the rep level you’re playing with the absolute best in town … You get to actually play alongside guys that you normally play against every other week.
“I know when it was around when I was first coming through it was a very positive experience for me and I really enjoyed it, and I made a heap of lifelong friends from that. I think it would be pretty enticing for most of the players.”
Brooks praised the efforts of Burdekin star Jeremy Dal Santo and former NQ United captain Corey Waples for their Cup success, but he said it was an impressive team performance.
“We’re pretty much only a development squad. We’ve got a lot of young players but the talent’s definitely there, and they showed that on Saturday night,” he said.