Shearers can still make finals cut, says coach
ORMEAU mentor Julius Kuresa is adamant his side is still in the race to feature in the Rugby League Gold Coast playoffs this season.
Kuresa’s call might seem bold for a club that went winless through the previous two A-grade seasons and has a one-from-seven record in 2019 but Ormeau again showed vast improvement in a 22-18 loss to Tugun on Sunday.
The Shearers dug deep after lapses saw them fall 16 points behind at one stage in the second half and they finished the game attacking the tryline in search of a matchwinner.
“I’m just glad that we are competing. We didn’t chuck in the towel and we came within a whisker of winning,” Kuresa said.
“I’ll be honest, and we had the same last year, it’s hard to hold onto guys when we’re not winning so we’ve lost quite a few players. But in saying that, the core that we have is quite a good core that we can build on.
“That second win is not too far away, I’m confident of that.
“And we know that we’re still not that far off … there’s still that fifth spot. There are three teams (fighting for it) and it’s a longer season.”
Tugun hold fifth place – the cut-off for finals – but are just three points ahead. Bilambil are sixth with a 1-5 record.
The core Kuresa spoke of centres around captain Jesse Malcolm and Parahi Wilson, who threatened to offload with every touch.
RLGC takes a break this weekend with the representative Gold Coast Vikings team in action; the Shearers’ next opponents are Bilambil on May 26.