CYCLONES’ WARNING

Team starts season with big victory

AN unrelenting offensive line proved the Townsville Cyclones’ biggest weapon in an emphatic start to their North Queensland Gridiron campaign.

Running back Kyle Reynolds lauded their ability to “block to the whistle” and enable the attacking stars to operate with ease from the second quarter onwards.

The 50-12 defeat of Mackay Mavericks would have been difficult to predict in the early exchanges, when the two sides traded blows and points.

The Mavericks were also forced to endure an injury change, with one player breaking his collarbone in three places.

But Reynolds said after the initial nerves faded, it was all oneway traffic as quarterback Boeden Brunne was provided the luxury of launching raid after raid.

So prominent was the men’s presence, Reynolds Brunne “did not touch big said the ground once”. “Wayne Swensson had so many pancake blocks it wasn’t funny, he just put people on their backs,” Reynolds said.

“He’s a large man and it was really easy to follow those kind of blokes. When you’ve got a 150kg dude launching someone behind the field it’s pretty easy.”

Brunne’s influence was limited last season due to injury, but his inclusion has enabled fill-in quarterback Thomas Jeeves to move back to the outside.

Reynolds said the difference it made to their attack was monumental, having amassed a half century for the first time since 2016.

Brunne’s composure and “lack of self preservation” was missed last season – Reynolds praising his ability to do whatever was necessary for the team and not giving “a damn what happens to him”.

Their comfort in the positions showed, as Brunne threw three touchdowns and Jeeves scored two himself. Jeeves’s younger brother Corey also scored in what was the 17-year-old’s first game of senior football.

The influence of the Cyclones’ new coaching trio in Christian O’dea, Josh Holden and Dan White also seemingly paid immediate dividends.

During the week, Reynolds said it was their wealth of knowledge and experience that had turned the Townsville outfit back into the Reef Bowl-winning unit they had been in the five previous competitions.

But getting the opportunity to test what they had implemented on the field was going to be the truest indication of their impact, and Reynolds said there was one element that came to the fore.

“Focus – it’s all about focus. It’s focus on the little things, focus on your job, focus on what you have to do and trust the brother on the side of you is going to do the exact same thing,” Reynolds said.