SQ do it tough at titles

Five hours prep before North Queensland game

SOUTH Queensland coach Stu Beakey concedes his representative rugby side have an uphill task at the Queensland Country Championships.

Beakey’s team flies into Townsville today for the tournament, giving them just a five-hour turnaround before their first game in the tri-series against North Queensland.

Making matters worse is the disparity in preparation be- tween the squads, with South Queensland yet to train together since the regional series that Darling Downs won a fortnight ago.

“When we get there, the first thing they will do is meet each other,” Beakey said.

“North Queensland have been training together for eight weeks. We’ve just got to get to know each other in the short time that we have got and see if we can work out some simple patterns to run around in.”

Adding to that challenge is the unusually high turnover of players from their 2017 roster.

“It’s a pretty new squad this year,” Beakey said.

“There are only six that have played South Queensland before. Usually the majority of the squad are from the year before – you have a 70-80 per cent retention rate – but this year, not so.”

Nine Gold Coasters are in the squad including some familiar names such as Mitch Planten, Jesse Mcgilvary, Sean Finigan and Jack Finigan.

“The Finigan boys I know from years gone by anyway and Mitch has been around South Queensland for four or five years now,” Beakey said.

The eldest Finigan brother, Steve, had been pencilled in to captain the squad but was unavailable due to work commitments.

Colleges centre Troy Hobbs was a late omission from the side after copping an injury last weekend.

South Queensland kick off against the hosts at 8pm tonight before facing Central Queensland at 5.30pm tomorrow.