Northern Pride’s make statement in win against Burleigh Bears
A statement win against the runaway Hostplus Cup leaders will mean nothing if Northern Pride can’t back it up against Brisbane Tigers in six days.
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A statement win against the runaway Hostplus Cup leaders will mean nothing if Northern Pride can’t back it up against Brisbane Tigers in six days.
The Pride shocked league leaders Burleigh 26-22, turning a 16-4 halftime lead into a much-needed win against high-quality competition despite some late drama, as the Bears fought back and held a man advantage late in the piece.
It was a fitting way to celebrate Ty Williams’ 100th game as coach of the Pride, the first man to reach the mark for the club and 21st in the Hostplus Cup.
“This is the one we’ve been chasing,” Williams said.
“We’ve got a tough block in these four weeks but you’ve seen them building over the past few weeks.
“The boys handled it well.”
The Pride were without co-captain Jayden Hodges, who missed due to a knee injury, with Jacob Wallace handed his debut from the bench.
Co-captain Chris Ostwald started at dummy-half, and it took just six minutes for the Pride top the scoring via PNG representative Robert Derby.
The Pride were never headed as they landed an outstanding tactical win for Williams and his staff, arguably their best of the season.
“We did a big scout on them and found a few chinks in the armour we wanted to exploit,” Williams said.
“They’re a very good football team, we knew they were going to come at us at some stage.”
The late sin-binning of second-rower Ewan Moore handed the dangerous Bears a one-man advantage in the final 15 minutes, band when Sam Coster crosse for the visitors to level the scores there was concern the Pride may not hold on.
But the home side did, finding the strength to reset the line, hold out the talented Bears then march down the other end of the field when Moore returned to give themselves a shot at winning.
Ben Hampton’s field goal attempt with three minutes to play was charged down, but the Pride crossed moments later through Shawn Bowen for the 26-22 victory.
The Bears’ inclusion of Titans centre Esan Marsters set up the game-winner, with Williams instructing his troops to exploit the lack of familiarity he may have with his outside man.
The Pride has now lost just one of their past five games, and are just one win outside of the top eight.
And while clearly happy to get the result, which has “been a long time coming”, Williams said it wouldn’t mean a thing if they can’t back up against the Tigers on Sunday.
“It’s massive for the confidence but we had a beer, we enjoyed it, and we’ll get back in on Monday for treatment and plan for next week, Williams said.
“We need to back it up against the Tigers.”
WHY WALLACE GOT THE NOD
CONSISTENCY is the key reason why Ivanhoes hooker Jacob Wallace won the race to replace injured Northern Pride co-captain Jayden Hodges in the Hostplus Cup clash with Burleigh Bears.
Wallace will debut for the Pride off the bench, with the reigning Cairns District Rugby League Gold Medal-winner set for about 30 minutes of game time against the runaway league leaders.
Co-captain Chris Ostwald will start for just the third time this season.
Pride coach Ty Williams said the race to replace Hodges, who was under an injury cloud after copping a knock to his knee in the Pride’s last-start win against PNG Hunters, came down to two men: Wallace and Brothers rake Adam Hepworth.
Williams watched both play in the CDRL last weekend, sitting in the stands as Wallace steered Ivanhoes to a 36-26 win against Atherton and Hepworth at dummy-half during Brothers’ 40-34 loss to Mossman-Port Douglas Sharks.
The results didn’t have anything to do with Williams’ final choice, but he relished seeing both perform.
“Hep was good but he’s still coming back from a long time off with that knee injury, so to be playing more consistent footy will be good for him,” Williams said.
“With Hodgo out and Denzel (King) still unavailable it was a good chance to go out and watch these guys play.
“It’s been a while in the making for Jacob, and you can see in training where he’s picked pieces off Hodgo and Ossie and applied them to his game.”
WALLACE COMES OUT ON TOP OF CDRL’S TOP 100 IN 2021
Wallace has been on the Pride’s radar for years.
Having come through the club’s development system, Wallace is no stranger to the club or what it stands for.
He’s toiled away in the CDRL for the past few years, and his outstanding form last season helped Ivanhoes reach the finals.
He trained with the Pride during the off-season and earlier this year was upgraded to a fulltime deal.
Wallace has been behind Cup regulars Hodges and Ostwald in the queue and in competition with King, who plays for Kangaroos when fit but not required by the Pride, and Hepworth.
But he will get his chance at Barlow Park this Saturday against a Bears team which has built a five-point gap to second atop the ladder, with Williams saying his consistency was the difference.
“That consistency was a big thing, the way he steered Ivanhoes to the finals last year and the start they've had this season,” Williams said.
“The way he focuses on those little things, those effort areas. We’re big on that, but to watch him on Saturday and see those efforts through the middle was big.
“He’s a big body, which we’ll need against a team like Burleigh. He ticks a lot of boxes in terms of what we need in that position.”
While Hodges is expected to return next week, it is still a big opportunity for Wallace to show why he belongs in the Hostplus Cup.
At this time, it is the only change to the team Williams named on Tuesday, with any Cowboys allocations set to come through on Friday.
HOW CDRL STARS FOUGHT FOR PRIDE OPPORTUNITY
IT was billed as a weekend in which several Northern Pride players could push their cases for selection in the Hostplus Cup squad.
With the Hostplus Cup on a one-week break for rep round, several Pride regulars or fringe players like five-eighth Tom Steadman, flyers Shawn Bowen and Mark Rosendale and forwards Tom McGrath, Whyatt Barnes and Terrence Casey-Douglas were among those sent to their respective Cairns District Rugby League clubs for round 11.
The mission was two-fold.
One, most had missed at least a week of substantial game time so it was important to play consistent footy to find or stay in form.
And two, give Williams a major selection headache ahead of a clash with competition leaders Burleigh Bears.
It’s fair to say they ticked both boxes.
Barnes and McGrath were at their rampaging best for Ivanhoes in their win against Atherton, while Steadman steered Southern Suburbs to a crucial win against Tully Tigers, which featured a tough performance from Casey-Douglas, to keep the Gordonvale club’s finals hopes alive.
Bowen was slow off the mark in his first game for Mossman-Port Douglas in years but found his feet when he switched to fullback and ended up scoring a try in the Shark’s comeback win against joint leaders Brothers.
And Rosendale scored a good try for Edmonton in their heavy loss to Innisfail as he aims to play his way back into the selection frame.
And it’s not just those individuals, with a number of fellow Pride-contracted players like Jacob Wallace and Daniel Woodhouse putting forward their case for a debut.
“Outstanding, all of them,” Williams said. “Very good.
“To be brutally honest, they were a class above.
“A few of them put their hand up.
“I watched Tom McGrath in the Ivanhoes game, he and Whyatt were exceptional, then you chuck Wallace and Rhy Young in there, they were very, very good performers.
“Tom at Tully for Suburbs was very good, and see Daniel Woodhouse do a good job and Rosey scored a good try for Edmonton. Then the cracker on Sunday, Mossman v Brothers where we had a fairly high influx.
“I thought Bow was slow out of the gates but he moved back to fullback, a bold call by Joel (Marama, Sharks coach) to do that, but it looks like he found his mojo. I thought he and Eddie (Daniel) were very influential on that team moving forward.”
Steadman as named at five-eighth, Barnes on the bench, with McGrath, Rosendale, and Bowen part of an extended bench for Saturday’s game at Barlow Park.
The Pride will face a monumental challenge in the form of the Bears, who thrashed the defending premiers Norths 54-18 in their last game.
“There’s no bigger challenge at the moment than the Bears, we saw what they did to the premiers,” Williams said.
“They’re number 1 in completions, they compete for everything, when they’re rolling, they’re pretty precise on what they do. We know we need to be very good. We’ll prepare well … and hopefully get the result we’re chasing.”
matthew.mcinerney1@news.com.au
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