New South Cairns coach Grant Russell got his first look at the competition on Saturday and is intrigued with what he saw. Playing in atrociously wet conditions, his Cutters won through to the Preseason Cup decider after defeats of Centrals and last year’s champions, Manunda.
They will play Saints, who looked their usual solid selves in winning both their games to top Pool A. But it was not necessarily about the result for Russell, who knows from his quarter of a century of coaching experience not to get carried away by preseason results.
"I think our intensity was good, but some of our decision making was poor, even in the conditions," he said. "You don’t get carried away with preseason games, but I’ve still got seven guys to come in and I didn’t play any guys that had niggles."
Having seen every team except North Cairns play, Russell was impressed with the diverse brands of football each club brought to the table.
"Saints look pretty solid and you’ve got Centrals, Port and Manunda who all play differently. And the Lions with (new coach Jason) Roe in charge looked very structured," he said.
The conditions made it near-impossible to play an expansive brand of footy, but it was still entertaining for those who braved the conditions to watch.
Read more at http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2012/03/19/210921_local-sport-news.html
Courtesy of The Cairns Post.
Last Modified on 19/03/2012 11:22