Lack of game time leaves Cairns as clear underdogs for Shield

A LACK of game time could undermine Cairns’s efforts at the Foley Shield, but coach John Buttigieg is keen to see this team step up to the challenge of their northern rivals.

The annual tri-series between Cairns, Townsville and Mackay will kick-off on Friday, with the Far North team to start as clear underdogs.

Mackay and Townsville competitions have already kicked off, but Cairns District Rugby League clubs are still in pre-season and trial mode with the new season not beginning until the end of May.

Players are from just three CDRL clubs, with not one representative from beaten grand finalists Ivanhoe Maidens.

“We didn’t notice that until we put it together in a list,” Buttigieg said. “We’ve got a lot of players from Kangaroos and Edmonton in there.”

Edmonton beat Innisfail 44-0 in their first trial game on Sunday, but this Foley Shield team will not have played a game together until they take the field against Townsville on Friday afternoon.

It is a tough position for the team to be in, but one the group, which is made up of several members of the Northern Pride’s under-19s squad from the past few seasons, will undoubtedly tackle head-on.

Etuina Suavai and Shantelle Ale partnered in the halves for the Pride this season, while Priya Deshong, Jarketta Smith and Kaiyla Ward are among those to have played or been part of higher level programs in recent years.

“There’s a few players I’m excited to see,” Buttigieg said.

“It’s going to be tough. Townsville and Mackay have been going for a few weeks. It would've been good to get a game in beforehand but it didn’t work out. The players we have, they’ve been dedicated to training and have trained well for the past few weeks.”