Best battle for Cup glory

THERE will be no love lost and no concessions given when the elite of North Queensland Football reinvigorate the time-honoured Frank Farina Cup at Brolga Park.

The former battle between NPL outfits Northern Fury and FNQ Heat has been refreshed this season with the best of NQ Football and Football FNQ men’s and women’s premier divisions going head to head.

With legs held in Cairns and Townsville, the Cup will be decided across both divisions with the association that wins more matches holding the gold.

NQ Football already holds a slight advantage in the race to the Cup with the NQF women winning their first leg 3-1 in Cairns last month. The men’s game had to be ruled out with Football FNQ failing to produce a team for the first leg.

While the northern raiders will have it all to play for at Brolga Park, NQF attacking midfielder Liam Phelps said they were going to have a hard time achieving it.

Phelps is expected to lead the NQF side out for the second time this season, and said it was an honour just to be considered among the best in the region.

“I am really looking forward to it, it is a great opportunity to represent the region and represent the clubs we play for week in and week out,” he said.

“It is always a good rivalry right through from the junior level to the seniors. (It’s a chance) to be the kings of the North in a way, and we are excited to further that rivalry this weekend.

“It is a great honour. It is a great competition up here in Townsville and there is plenty of rivalry between the clubs, but it is great to come together as the collective group.”

Both the men and women have put in countless hours on the training field over the past month, meeting twice a week as a group.

It has been a big effort for the women with several players travelling from surrounding regions

Burdekin.

Midfielder Rylee Caspanello, who will be joined in the representative side by her two sisters, Elly and Deni, is one of the Burdekin representatives in the NQF side. She returns to the representative scene for the first time since she was in high school.

“For the past five weeks we have been putting in two nights of training each week, it has been a fair effort,” she said.

“It has been nice, I know not being part of a representative including the team for a long time, it is good to get that opportunity to play with good quality soccer players and get that good quality coaching.”

Most of the women’s side had not played together before their opening clash, but still showed an ability to jell.

But Caspanello believed their 3-1 win over Football FNQ actually put the pressure back on the home side.

The women’s clash kicks off on the main ground at Brolga Park at 5pm with the men playing at 7pm.