A LATE game blow out rubbed salt in the wounds for Red Devils co-coach Nik Hannaford after his side’s disappointing 46-24 loss to Barraba on Saturday.
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Despite playing with the home ground advantage, the Devils’ First XV never looked comfortable and struggled for possession when they needed it most.
“For the first 20 minutes [of the second half] it looked like we were just defending,” Hannaford said.
“When we did get the ball it was all a little bit too late.”
Missed opportunities early in the piece didn’t help their cause either.
“We had our chances in the first half,” he said.
“There were probably two to three tries we should have scored to give us a bit more of a lead and take a little wind out of Barraba’s sails but it wasn’t to be.
“Just the last 10 minutes when Barraba got on a bit of a roll and got that lead back by half time.
“They had their tails up and carried that into the second half.
“Our fitness did let us down a bit and once Barraba got their nose in front, their confidence seemed to go on from there.”
Barraba was running off the back of a big 27-17 home victory against Tamworth the week before while also celebrating the club’s 50th year anniversary.
Last week’s win over Gunnedah is first grade’s third win from as many matches with just the one loss against defending premiers, Narrabri, in round one.
Hannaford said his troops offered glimpses of their potential.
“I think they showed what they can do with those couple of tries in the second half after they’d been on the back foot,” he said.
“They got a bit of ball and strung a few things together.”
Best from the Gunnedah pack was five-eight Pete Henderson who made good use of the little ball he received, halfback Dave Heyman, flanker Sam Michelsen and the Mitchell duo.
“Cameron and Scotty Mitchell both had very good efforts in the centres, defensively especially and they both looked pretty good in attack,” Hannaford said.
How the Devils rebound for this weekend’s away clash against Scone depends a lot on the side’s training habits, the coach said.
“I think it’s up to them, they need to have a look and see where they want to be, make the effort to get to two trainings a week and start to do a little bit themselves,” he said.
“All is not lost at this stage but they need to have a look at their training habits and go from there.”
On a lighter note, Gunnedah reserve grade won 35-8 in the earlier match against Barraba.
