BUILDING TEAM SPIRIT

Q Obviously Cairns FC is a new franchise, so how do you foster that camaraderie and get that club feel?

A It’s certainly difficult for us to do that in a part-time capacity, especially with our junior sides. It’s not impossible but it is a bit more challenging. We’ve made some compromises and consulted and worked hard with the zone and the local clubs to try to come up with a coaching model that’s going to enable development pathways for young players. It’s certainly much easier within our senior squad. Last weekend, when we went away to Townsville to play MagpiesCrusaders, we stayed overnight and we left the boys to their own devices and the coaches went one way and players went the other. The feedback we got in the morning from the players was none of the players had really got together as a group for the past three to four years to mix and learn about each other. It was a good experience for the dynamic. You’ve got to give credit to Danny Graystone (pictured) for that. We may well have had issues in the past with personalities but the message is basically: “Get on with the job and away we go.” Q After the rain has passed, the youth trials finally started this week. What did you think?

A The quality is reasonably good and it’s a fairly young age group. The overall age group is under-17 to under-20 so we want to encapsulate that so there are opportunities for players moving forward. We want to make them better players so when they go back to their clubs they can perform better and lift the standard.