Northern Pride CEO’s pre-game speech for BMD Premiership debut
Northern Pride coach Colin Wilkie revealed the pre-game speech from the club’s CEO which fired up his side in its BMD Premiership debut thriller with Brisbane Tigers.Find out what he had to say and how the match played out here.
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With the words of CEO Garreth Smith ringing in their ears – Northern Pride played some quality footy on Saturday.
Making their BMD Premiership debut against Brisbane Tigers, Pride competed for large parts of the game but fell short losing 26-16.
“One of the last things our CEO (Garreth Smith) said to the team was basically we didn’t get dressed up for nothing, go out there and compete show them what you’re made of,” Pride coach Colin Wilkie said.
“The girls did exactly that. They went out there played with a lot of passion and were very competitive, they made Tigers really work for that win.
“In the end it was a few technical things that really cost us like mistakes, set restarts and penalties.
“The way the game is played and officiated at this level, a lot of the girls are not used to that so it is a big adjustment.
“It’s a huge learning curve for all of us, coaches and players, but those technical things we can go away and work on them.
“I cannot fault the team for effort and desire though you can’t coach that into a player our team has that and I’m very proud of their efforts.”
Those technical mistakes and two key periods of ultimately cost Pride the chance to secure their first BMD win in their first ever game.
Trailing to a Namoe Gesa try in the 8th minute Pride responded in perfect fashion with tries to Kimberley Hunt and Sian Williams giving them a 10-4 lead by the 15th minute.
Gesa’s second in the 24th minute and a Porche John four pointer one minute after the halftime restart sapped the life out of Pride though.
“I haven’t seen the stats yet but we did give away a lot of possession,” Wilkie said.
“When you don’t have the ball for long periods it really takes the energy out of you.
“Those couple of periods where they scored back-to-back tries hurt us.
“We finished strong, got it back to 22-16, but it wasn’t quite enough in the end.
“We can take a lot away from the game though and will get straight back to work.”
Originally published as Northern Pride CEO’s pre-game speech for BMD Premiership debut
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