Post by bazal on Jun 2, 2018 3:03:03 GMT
North QLD and Canberra have played out an 18-all draw in tough conditions in the capital over the weekend, with the home side overturning a 12 point deficit to lock scores with moments left on the clock in a thrilling finish.
The Bruce Stadium weather was brutal, with howling wind and freezing sleet hammering the players and favouring the local lads, but despite running through their warm-ups in front of the fire at the team hotel the boys from far north QLD adapted well.
The Dolphins started the stronger of the sides, establishing the lead in a tough first half through skipper Nathan Brown before the Canberrans hit back to go to the break at 6-6.
The visitors extended their lead through a penalty goal immediately after half time, and in-form half Drew Hutchison crossed six minutes later on club debut to extend the lead to 8.
Representative hooker Andrew McCullough made the lead 12 with 20 minutes to play, and although Holland missed the conversion the visitors would have felt quite comfortable given the conditions.
Unfortunately, it seemed the freezing rain finally started to take a toll on the warm-climate Dolphins, and the tenacity of the home side paid off as the visitors began to succumb to the cold. Siliva Havili set up a grand stand finish with 8 to play, reducing the deficit to 12, and despite valiantly fighting to overcome both their fast finishing opponents and the miserable weather, the Dolphins cracked again with less than ninety seconds on the clock. Josh Papalii bulldozed several frostbitten forwards to crash over, and a close range conversion from Jarrod Croker iced the draw (pun intended).
The tied game technically extends the Dolphins undefeated streak to seven matches and could see them sitting firmly within the top four halfway through the season, a surprising position given where the club was at the end of last season. However, whilst the coach admits he is happy overall, he admits that both the draws in that run of form are games that probably should have been wins.
"You can't be unhappy with seven weeks unbeaten, obviously. But there's a bit of 'what could have been' about it as well. We drew with the Crusade after leading by 14 and we've drawn with Canberra after leading by 12 in horrible conditions. Not to take anything away from those sides, they are both in good positions on the ladder with good reason, but you should be winning from that position realistically. It's a bit disappointing to walk away with one point instead of two. Blowing leads like that is a worry and we've gotta work on it because you'll lose a game eventually."
Captain Nathan Brown, one of several marquis signings made by Bailey over the off season, mirrored his coaches disappointment.
"Yeah, look, I think the cold just got the best of us. Canberra are a good side and they're much better in those conditions. We started well but the cold and their guys wore us down and they came home stronger. It almost feels like a loss to be honest, the boys are gutted not to get the two points."
Overall, Bailey is happy with his sides start to the season, even if improvement is needed before he'll call them genuine contenders.
"We're halfway through and we'll be in the top four I think so that's a really really nice place to be after nine weeks. We're winning and we're winning reasonably tight games so that's a good sign we're defending well, but I'd like for us to be able to close games out better and I'd like for us to be able to go on with a game which we haven't really done yet. The genuine contenders smack teams, Gold Coast have just put 52 on poor old Sydney and we haven't shown the ability to that yet. We still have a negative differential thanks to the first two rounds so that's a problem when the other guys in the top six have got positive of forty points or more. We really need to turn that around because it could be the difference between finishing fourth and finishing seventh and missing the finals."
There are plenty of positives to take out of the last seven weeks.
"Look, I'm disappointed that the draws weren't wins, but I've also coached sides where those kind games end up being losses, so there's a positive right there. Five wins, two draws and two losses for the season outs us in a much better spot than five wins and four losses. Without those two draws we'd be outside the top six I think, so the ability to start fast against quality sides and get those leads has still been a positive even if the result hasn't gone entirely our way. We just need to be better at finishing those games. We've also beaten quality sides, Rochdale and Melbourne in particular but a win over Adelaide is something that has always been hard for me so that was a great sign. We came back from a big deficit to beat Cape Town. The bones of a top side are there we just need to put it all together. But a good start to the season does kind of put less pressure on us at the back end, the sides below us have to catch us now whereas we just have to hang on."
North QLD return home, hopefully to warmer conditions, to face a desperate Sydney side in Round 10, and Bailey won't be taking them lightly.
"They're not travelling well, but they're desperate and we're probably not travelling quite as well as our results suggest. It's a tough one because you'd always like to look at games like this as a chance to overturn that for and against but in a competition like this anyone can beat anyone on their day. So we'll be preparing for a dogfight and we're definitely not taking the game lightly. We've got a few injuries still and picked up a couple more niggles in this one so we'll have an anxious wait on The King and Kerrod as well. I'd be happy with a one point win, and if we get a chance to maybe put a few points on I'll be keen to see how we react."
The Bruce Stadium weather was brutal, with howling wind and freezing sleet hammering the players and favouring the local lads, but despite running through their warm-ups in front of the fire at the team hotel the boys from far north QLD adapted well.
The Dolphins started the stronger of the sides, establishing the lead in a tough first half through skipper Nathan Brown before the Canberrans hit back to go to the break at 6-6.
The visitors extended their lead through a penalty goal immediately after half time, and in-form half Drew Hutchison crossed six minutes later on club debut to extend the lead to 8.
Representative hooker Andrew McCullough made the lead 12 with 20 minutes to play, and although Holland missed the conversion the visitors would have felt quite comfortable given the conditions.
Unfortunately, it seemed the freezing rain finally started to take a toll on the warm-climate Dolphins, and the tenacity of the home side paid off as the visitors began to succumb to the cold. Siliva Havili set up a grand stand finish with 8 to play, reducing the deficit to 12, and despite valiantly fighting to overcome both their fast finishing opponents and the miserable weather, the Dolphins cracked again with less than ninety seconds on the clock. Josh Papalii bulldozed several frostbitten forwards to crash over, and a close range conversion from Jarrod Croker iced the draw (pun intended).
The tied game technically extends the Dolphins undefeated streak to seven matches and could see them sitting firmly within the top four halfway through the season, a surprising position given where the club was at the end of last season. However, whilst the coach admits he is happy overall, he admits that both the draws in that run of form are games that probably should have been wins.
"You can't be unhappy with seven weeks unbeaten, obviously. But there's a bit of 'what could have been' about it as well. We drew with the Crusade after leading by 14 and we've drawn with Canberra after leading by 12 in horrible conditions. Not to take anything away from those sides, they are both in good positions on the ladder with good reason, but you should be winning from that position realistically. It's a bit disappointing to walk away with one point instead of two. Blowing leads like that is a worry and we've gotta work on it because you'll lose a game eventually."
Captain Nathan Brown, one of several marquis signings made by Bailey over the off season, mirrored his coaches disappointment.
"Yeah, look, I think the cold just got the best of us. Canberra are a good side and they're much better in those conditions. We started well but the cold and their guys wore us down and they came home stronger. It almost feels like a loss to be honest, the boys are gutted not to get the two points."
Overall, Bailey is happy with his sides start to the season, even if improvement is needed before he'll call them genuine contenders.
"We're halfway through and we'll be in the top four I think so that's a really really nice place to be after nine weeks. We're winning and we're winning reasonably tight games so that's a good sign we're defending well, but I'd like for us to be able to close games out better and I'd like for us to be able to go on with a game which we haven't really done yet. The genuine contenders smack teams, Gold Coast have just put 52 on poor old Sydney and we haven't shown the ability to that yet. We still have a negative differential thanks to the first two rounds so that's a problem when the other guys in the top six have got positive of forty points or more. We really need to turn that around because it could be the difference between finishing fourth and finishing seventh and missing the finals."
There are plenty of positives to take out of the last seven weeks.
"Look, I'm disappointed that the draws weren't wins, but I've also coached sides where those kind games end up being losses, so there's a positive right there. Five wins, two draws and two losses for the season outs us in a much better spot than five wins and four losses. Without those two draws we'd be outside the top six I think, so the ability to start fast against quality sides and get those leads has still been a positive even if the result hasn't gone entirely our way. We just need to be better at finishing those games. We've also beaten quality sides, Rochdale and Melbourne in particular but a win over Adelaide is something that has always been hard for me so that was a great sign. We came back from a big deficit to beat Cape Town. The bones of a top side are there we just need to put it all together. But a good start to the season does kind of put less pressure on us at the back end, the sides below us have to catch us now whereas we just have to hang on."
North QLD return home, hopefully to warmer conditions, to face a desperate Sydney side in Round 10, and Bailey won't be taking them lightly.
"They're not travelling well, but they're desperate and we're probably not travelling quite as well as our results suggest. It's a tough one because you'd always like to look at games like this as a chance to overturn that for and against but in a competition like this anyone can beat anyone on their day. So we'll be preparing for a dogfight and we're definitely not taking the game lightly. We've got a few injuries still and picked up a couple more niggles in this one so we'll have an anxious wait on The King and Kerrod as well. I'd be happy with a one point win, and if we get a chance to maybe put a few points on I'll be keen to see how we react."
