Seagulls shut out Pride

WHAT was supposed to be a shootout between the Northern Pride’s halves became a Seagulls shutout as the Cairns club fell to an embarrassing 28-0 loss to Tweed.

The Pride was kept scoreless for just the fifth time in its history in trying conditions at the Gold Coast, when Paul Turner powered Tweed Seagulls to victory.

Turner was untouchable at the back for the home side, which made the most of possession and territory throughout a contest played in tough conditions, but the Pride barely helped itself.

The Pride must address its discipline or the side will find it difficult to put an end to its poor start to the Hostplus Cup season, as coach Ty Williams threatened to swing the axe ahead of a clash against the Sunshine Coast Falcons.

The Pride gave away silly penalties on the fourth and tackles, was penalised for dissent while in possession and for the fourth time in eight games lost a player to the sin bin.

Williams has threatened to look outside the relatively settled squad he’s used in recent weeks to get a result, and turn around a season which is slipping further away with every week.

“Our ill discipline is a big concern at the moment,” Williams said. “The problem we have is when it should be simple, we go away from the plan, like the mindset is we have to do something, when we should be sticking to it and trying to build pressure.

“Defensively, we gave away too many silly penalties.”

The Pride started strongly, shutting down the Seagulls’ defence as it peppered the line early but couldn’t find a way past the Far Northerners.

And while the floodgates didn’t burst open, the Seagulls took their chances and exploited every gap.

Turner turned the game with his footwork, and nothing highlighted his impact more than when he stepped past the Pride’s disjointed kick chase to set up Lee Turner’s try in the 29th minute.

That came 15 minutes after he stepped through the Pride’s defence to open the scoring.

“We played well in that opening 10 minutes, we had good patches, but as it unfolded we did some dumb stuff,” Williams said.

“Fourth tackle shoulder tackles, high tackles on the fourth and fifth tackles.

“We can’t give away those kinds of penalties.

“It’s frustrating to watch.” Discipline will be the key for Williams and his staff as the Pride prepares to host the Falcons, who beat Brisbane Tigers 20-10 to keep their spot atop the table, while they will work on their defensive units.

Their attacking structure will also come under the microscope.

“Our attention to detail has to be better,” Williams said. “We flipped a few things in the past few weeks but we need to work harder. Hopefully the weather gods will allow some time to properly prepare.

“We need to make sure we stick to the process. There are a few skill games that we will revisit to make sure we’re on the same page.”

The Pride slumped to 12th on the ladder after the loss, well behind the top four.