Sport
12 April, 2024
Pride aims to bounce back
THE Northern Pride is hoping to bounce back in round 5 after a disappointing loss against the Sunshine Coast Falcons 32-10 last weekend.
Despite a strong start to the season, the Northern Pride had their first loss in the Sunshine Coast last Saturday, April 6, after what coach Eric Smith described as a “disappointing match” with too many errors.
The Pride is hoping to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new strategy ahead of their next game against the Redcliffe Dolphins at Kayo Stadium in Redcliffe tomorrow (April 13).
Northern Pride is currently sitting third in the competition.
“Obviously we are disappointed with our performance on the weekend,” said Mr Smith.
“We are a long way off from how we played and performed in the first three rounds, it is very disappointing. We coughed up way too much football, made 16 or 17 errors and then we had to do way too much defence which took a toll on us in the back end of the second half.
“It’s definitely not the football that we want to be playing, it hasn’t been the football that we have been putting out on the path in the first three games, so that is the most disappointing thing.”
Mr Smith said the team was ready to go back to the high-quality game they had put out in the first three rounds.
“A positive out of this is that we know that it’s not the team or identity that we’ve been putting out on the paddock so far this year,” he said.
“We are definitely looking to get back to the kind of footy that got us the results in those first three rounds. There is plenty of stuff we definitely need to look at and take some learnings out of that game for sure.”
The next match against the Redcliffe Dolphins will be key for the Pride and one that could help them retain their title at the GNB Energy Cup.
Pride chief executive Garrath Smith said the team would fight for a win this weekend.
“Based on our previous encounters with the Redcliffe Dolphins, we know that they are a formidable opponent, but we have shown in the past that we can beat them like in the last round in 2023 at home 28-26 to take out the GNB Energy Cup,” he said.
“Eric and the team will identify areas for improvement and will work hard to address them.
“We look forward to retaining the GNB Energy Cup and talking out the win this weekend.”
