Nona closing in on pointscoring milestone
BLACKHAWKS halfback Shaun Nona has earned praise from coach Aaron Payne as he closes in on 300 points in the Queensland Cup for the Townsville side.
Nona is 12 points shy of the milestone and could achieve it when the team faces Burleigh on the Gold Coast on Saturday.
The 31-year-old has also gone past Jamal Fogarty on the all-time Queensland Cup pointscoring ladder.
He now has 866 in his career for the Northern Pride, Easts Tigers, Wynnum Manly, and Blackhawks.
“I think anyone that plays the amount of Queensland Cup that Sean’s played, obviously speaks volumes about the quality of the player he is,” Payne said.
“He’s a tremendous goalkicker as well. As a coach that is really good to have that – to have someone in any side where most fours turn to six.
“Shaun is an important part of our squad. What he lacks in speed now, he makes up for in decision-making and coming up in the right place more often than not from an attacking point of view.”
Nona has scored 56 points in 10 games this season.
Payne said although most of his star player’s points came from kicks, he was also crucial to his team scoring tries.
“It (scoring big points) certainly helps when you’re a goalkicker, and your team’s putting a few tries on the board,” he said.
“A lot of the reasons those tries get put on the board is the ball was often worked from him.”
The Blackhawks have a tough game in front of them on Saturday against the ladderleading Bears and Payne said it was important his team not let off for the whole match.
“They are quality,” Payne said of Burleigh.
“I think it’s really important we play for 80 minutes. That has been our Achilles heel this year, we’ve played some pretty patchy footy.
“We’re really focused on our defence.”