Northern Pride to unveil revamped attack and defence new style of play
Fierce defence and opportunism in attack will be the hallmarks of the Northern Pride’s new Intrust Super Cup campaign, according to head coach Ty Williams.
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Fierce defence and opportunism in attack will be the hallmarks of the Northern Pride’s new Intrust Super Cup campaign, according to head coach Ty Williams.
There was no sugar coating the Pride’s performances in their most recent season in 2019, where they finished 12th with five wins — the worst record in the club’s history.
It has prompted Williams to overhaul the side’s attack and defence ahead of the Intrust Super Cup’s return, with the introduction of the NRL’s six-again rule to the statewide competition also forcing the former Maroons flyer to rethink how the game is played.
The Pride conceded 27.6 points per game in 2019, with only Souths Logan (30.2), Papua New Guinea (32.6) and Central Queensland (36.7) conceding more.
Their 635 points conceded was the Pride’s most in any regular season since they entered the competition in 2008, and just the second time the club conceded more than 500 points in a season. (They conceded 555 points in 2017.)
But it wasn’t just a Swiss-cheese defence that hurt the Pride — they also struggled to put points on the board, averaging just 14.9 points and 2.7 tries per game.
They were also ranked second-last for line breaks and third-last for tackle breaks and offloads.
After 12 months of reassessing and re-evaluating the 2019 season’s downfalls, Williams and the Pride are preparing to unveil a revamped style of play in 2021.
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“We don’t want to play too structured this year because the moment you get an advantage you have to take it, you can’t wait for another chance,” said the coach.
“We did a fair bit of that in the trial last weekend and everyone was sort of on the ball straight away, instead of setting up for stuff.
“It was a bit of a different look for us but I thought as the game got going and we got into it a bit more we adjusted accordingly.”
The Pride’s desire to play a more expansive and free-flowing style of footy has been bolstered by the recruitment of Jayden Corrigan, Tom Steadman, Jack Bowen-Bowyer and former NRL hooker and Cairns product Jayden Hodges.
However, Williams said defensive improvements had been the principal focus for his side during the pre-season.
“Because we’ve got so many good attacking individuals, we can balance that out with our attacking disciplines, but defensively it’s about making sure we all stay together, work together and cover for each other,” he said.
“That’s something we’ve worked pretty hard at in the pre-season, and it hasn’t come easy, but it’s just the understanding of it and breaking those old habits.”
While there were positive signs in the Pride’s 34-6 trial win against the Townsville Blackhawks last weekend, Williams said they were still a work in progress.
“I thought we were okay without being great,” he said.
“The things we worked on in the pre-season, we implemented a couple of times and it seemed to work.
“It’s good just to see a little result in that thought process moving forward.”
Originally published as Northern Pride to unveil revamped attack and defence new style of play
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