History repeats in Foley side loss
CAIRNS Foley Shield coach Chris Sheppard was left to rue a sluggish start for the second time in as many trial games as his side went down 32-22 to the Northern Pride under-20s on Saturday afternoon.
“I’m pretty disappointed,” said the coach. “We’ve started poorly the last two games now, so it’s something we’ve got to address.”
The Cairns Foley Shield side lost their first trial against the Northern Pride Intrust Super Cup side 32-16 at Edmonton in February, before going down to the Pride under-20s on the weekend.
“You can’t give a team 16 points the first week and an 18point start this week and try and come back,” Sheppard said.
“We got back, we should have finished it and we didn’t, so we’ve got a fair bit to work on.”
“We’ve done it twice, so I’ll blame myself for that. We’ll have a look at what we do in the warm-up and how we prepare and get it right.”
While he was not thrilled with his side’s lack of intensity to start the match, he said there were some positive individual performances on the day.
“I thought Masi Nona was good, Marky Rosendale was really good for us, Terrence Casey-Douglas went really well – there’s plenty to work with there,” he said.
“A few boys were having their first run of the year, so that can’t be underestimated.
“We’ve only had three sessions where we’ve had 60 to 80 per cent of boys there, which makes it hard for combinations and things.
“We’ll be right, we’ve got a bit of work to do but we’ll get there.”
Sheppard said there was no guarantee players from the weekend would be selected to represent Cairns at the Foley Shield carnival in Townsville in May, with the coach to keep a close eye on contenders when the CDRL season starts.