The Maroochy-Northshore Roos have started their Pineapple Hotel Cup season with a hard-fought 20-point win over Mayne at Everton Oval.
Coach Peter Somerville admitted his side had not had the best preparation after heavy rain across the Coast over the past two weeks restricted their capacity to train.
Nevertheless, he was just happy his troops got their year off on the right foot with a 14.8.88 to 10.8.66 victory.
“I’ll take it. We didn’t play great footy but we haven’t been on the track much the last month – the grounds have been washed out,” he said.
“The boys gutted it out. It wasn’t a pretty game. Our opposition always seem to scrag us down here, they’re pretty tough.
“We got to three goals ahead and sort of held it all game.
“They tried to come back at us, got back to within a goal of us, but we kicked away. That was pleasing, when the opposition came at us, we were able to retaliate.
“We turned the scoreboard over. I’ll take it. We still have a fair bit of work to do, because we just need to get on the ground.
“We’ve been training in swimming pools for the last four weeks. It’s not the perfect preparation.”
The Roos will turn their attention to their blockbuster round-two showdown with Surfers Paradise.
Somerville admitted revenge was on his mind after the Demons knocked his side out of last year’s competition in heartbreaking fashion.
The Roos went into the final quarter of the 2009 qualifying final with a 34-point lead, only to have their advantage overturned in an extraordinary term of football.
“We obviously want to get on the track this week to sharpen up for Surfers (Paradise), because they knocked us out in the semi-final,” he said.
“The boys will have something big to prove.
“We’ve already addressed that – we were up by six goals in the last quarter and got rolled.
“It will be like a final and that’s the way I’ll be treating it.”
