Knights call in goal guru for kickalong
GRIFFITH University Colleges are pulling out all the stops to ensure they can grab their chance tomorrow to end Surfers Paradise’s Gold Coast District Rugby Union premiership run.
The Knights have brought in goal-kicking coach Allan Edwards to work with scrumhalf Cam Dodd on what has been a problem area for the side in recent weeks.
Colleges have already met grand final opponents Surfers twice in the past month and between those games they have been successful in just one of seven conversion attempts.
“That’s a little problem of ours but we have been working very hard on it,” said Knights coach Graham Herlihy.
“We’ve got two options with our goal-kicking: Jason Beeton and Cam Dodd. And we have also got Timmy Smith on the bench.”
Smith was the team’s primary kicker before being relegated to the bench when Cass Walding won over the No.10 jersey.
Herlihy toyed with the idea of bringing another goalkicker into the starting lineup but has opted against it, wanting to stay loyal to the players who have got him this far.
While he joked they will do their best to score tries under the posts, he revealed Dodd in particular has been working overtime to be ready to fire under the grand final spotlight.
“We have had a goal-kicking coach working with Cam, Allan Edwards,” Herlihy said.
“He has done a lot of work in the NRL with various clubs.
“He is actually a Doctor of Education and is with one of the biggest sporting universities in the world in London.
He lives in Australia and he travels over and works with all of the big clubs around the world.
“He goes in there and sets up a lot of processes in the clubs. He’s an amazing bloke.”
The opportunity to bring Edwards into their camp came about through his brother Ken Edwards, who is a conditioning coach at Colleges this year.
The grand final will be held at Bond Pirates’ ground tomorrow at 3pm.