How rounds 1 and 2 could define Cutters’ Qld Cup campaign

A two-week trial by fire to open the Cutters’ 2021 Intrust Super Cup season is just the ticket says coach Michael Crawley

The Mackay Cutters will open the 2021 Intrust Super Cup season at home to the Redcliffe Dolphins. Photo: File

The pre-season premiership favourites and reigning Intrust Super Cup champions headline a two-week trial by fire to open the Mackay Cutters' 2021 Intrust Super Cup campaign.

Coach Michael Crawley says bring it on.

The Cutters were dealt perhaps the hardest starting hand of any state league club when the QRL released the fixture this morning.

Mackay will open its season at home to perennial premiership contenders Redcliffe Dolphins on March 20, before travelling to Pizzey Park to play 2019 champions Burleigh Bears the following weekend.

Crawley will quickly get an understanding of how his young side stacks up against the competition's best - a prospect he welcomed.

"It's good for us, because it gives us a crack at those sides right at the start which I reckon is the best way to go," Crawley said.

"Redcliffe I would say would be close to competition favourites at the start of the year … and I think Burleigh in Burleigh, that'll be good for us to test how we travel.

"With the year off that we've had, any game of footy will be fun. We may as well start with the big dogs as far as I'm concerned."

The Cutters return to BB Print Stadium in round 3 for one of the biggest annual encounters on the calendar - the PNG Hunters.

"When I first joined the Cutters, Maurie (former CEO Maurie Fatnowna) was telling me the Hunters have the best crowd in Queensland Rugby League and Mackay isn't far behind," Crawley said.

"I've only watched the Hunters on tape, never coached against them, but from what I've seen they're pretty exciting."

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When the Cutters returned to pre-season training last month, Crawley was thrilled to be able to get back to the roots of rugby league after an incredibly trying year.

Now with the fixture set in stone and a date on the horizon, the second-year Cutters coach is as eager as his players to hear that first whistle signalling the start of the 2021 season.

"Having the games locked in gives us focus moving forward and puts a time frame on when we have to be ready. That makes it exciting," Crawley said.

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