No damping Dragons’ fire
FOOTBALL DOUGLAS United Dragons coach Andrew Robinson says his team is hungry for a third straight FNQ Football title.
The Dragons season opener against Leichhardt on Friday night was foiled by rain, with the Port Douglas Sporting Complex pitch “virtually unplayable” due a storm the previous night.
It means the defending champs will have to wait another fortnight to officially kick-off their campaign – with a general bye and the Easter break ahead – but it didn’t faze Robinson.
“It wasn’t the ideal way to get the season started but the conditions were terrible, so we’ll just use the extra time to prepare,” he said.
“We trained at Four Mile Beach this week because the field was still unplayable.
“Our next game won’t be until after Easter so we’ve got plenty of time to get ourselves right for it.”
The Dragons will again be led by Gary Cunningham and Adriano Gualtieri this year, the latter proving constant threat in 2018 with 17 goals.
Daniel Ferrero also returns and should prove a threat in the middle and in attack.
Robinson said all signs pointed to another successful season, declaring his current group “similar, if not a little bit better” than last year.
“We’ve had a pretty solid pre-season and a number of touch practice matches against premier league teams,” he said.
“It means our preparation has been great and we’re looking in really good shape.”
Douglas United powered to the league-championship double last year and had the minor premiership sewn up with three games to play. They beat Mareeba 3-1 in the decider.
The Dragons will meet James Cook University after the Easter break followed by a tough away game at Atherton.