The scoreline mightn’t have read in their favour but Gunnedah coach Jason Waerea was impressed with aspects of the Red Devils performance when they tackled Quirindi in a trial on Saturday.
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Their final hit-out ahead of next month’s Central North kick-off, the Red Devils took a mixed squad of 25 players. With a number of regular first graders unavailable Waerea said it gave them the opportunity to “put people into new roles and to check our depth”.
He highlighted the set pieces as one of their strengths.
“The front rowers had a strong day,” he said.
“Our running was executed well and we had plenty of line breaks but just couldn’t turn that into points with final passes failing to stick.”
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He noted the enthusiasm at the ruck was very positive but said they need to get the execution right.
”We did give away a lot of ruck penalties so we need to work on our ruck play and familiarise ourselves with the roles and requirements of arriving players,” he said.
“We were our own worst enemy there and handed over a lot of free ball. We had the ball for a total of one minute in the first 15 minutes of the game.”
The club have welcomed a number of new faces this season, and Waerea said they looked good.
“Joe Hinchey, Andrew Hadobas, Jordan Donaldson and Nick Lyons had their first hit out for the club and had plenty of running opportunities and looked every bit ready for the season,” he said.
The Lions won three tries to one and, Waerea commented, held their structure really well and gave away little to no penalties and deserved their points.
