A COLD, blustery wind greeted Coolangatta when they arrived at
Fisherman’s Road on Saturday, yet the Blues handed in a performance that
warmed the heart of coach Grant McKenzie.
Hot favourites
Maroochy-Northshore took the verdict, as expected, but it was a much
closer battle than expected before the home side eventually prevailed by
12.11 (83) to 7.8 (50).
It was the class and finishing ability of
the Roos that eventually took the Roos to victory, in McKenzie’s
opinion.
“I honestly thought if we had taken our chances we could
have won the game – well, maybe not win, but we missed three from in
front in the last quarter,” he said.
“I thought our attitude and
pressure was terrific but a bit of class prevailed for Maroocnydore.
Their finishing was better than ours.”
Winning coach Peter
Somerville, though, preferred to think the conditions brought his Roos
back a level or two and he was happy to get away with the four points
that took his side level with Sandgate in second spot on the ladder.
The
clash provided a White-royal battle, as it were, with three unrelated
players of that surname prominent.
Maroochy’s Brodie White was just
about best-on-ground on the ball and on a half-forward flank, while his
skipper Ryan White also made the best-player list for the winners.
But
Coolangatta had Brendan White assigned to Ryan White and McKenzie
thought he did an extremely good job.
Other shining lights for
Maroochy were Ben Burns on a wing and half-back and defender Tom Booth.
For
the Blues, who have cut right back on their skill errors under
pressure, Queensland Country ruckman Jason Smith was outstanding and
skipper Daniel Hawkins again shone in the centre.
Last Modified on 06/07/2010 14:03
