WHILE they may not have secured the win at the weekend, the Greater Northern women’s rep players far from disgraced themselves.
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The Tigers suffered a 22-0 loss to North Coast in the opening round of the 2019 CRL Country Championships.
Mistakes and penalties proved costly but, despite being on the wrong end of the scoreboard, starting front-rower Amelia Tunamena was thrilled with the experience.
“10 out of 10 I reckon. Geez it was hot though,” she said.
“I think we made it hard on ourselves, especially with little errors that we made.
“Just handling the ball really, we couldn’t hang on to it. I reckon we defended for about 80 per cent of that game, easily.
“They are right when they say it is a lot easier with the ball.”
Coach Mick Schmiedel said although the errors were disappointing, it gave the side something to work on.
“Our completion rate in the first half was only 50 per cent, we had it for 12 and only completed six,” he admitted.
“In the second period, we had the ball seven times and only completed two sets.
“I think there were 10 penalties against us, six in the first half and four in the second.
“They are things we can fix up.”
Schmiedel did credit the defensive work of the Greater Northern team.
“I think if we weren’t defensively as good as we were, it may have been worse,” he said.
“I also think if we got on the scoreboard in that first half, we got five opportunities to score and we didn’t take any of them.
“If we get on the scoreboard before the break and it is 10-6, it is a totally different game from there, the momentum swings.”
The Tigers’ Country Championships campaign is not over yet though with a match up against Northern Rivers this Saturday at Bellevue Oval in Armidale.
“I have made a couple of little changes this week,” Schmiedel said.
“I don’t think that will disrupt it at all, I think it will make it a better side.
“To try and change some of these girls’ games in a week is difficult, so as a coach I have to shuffle things around and do what I think is best for our side.”
This Saturday will see four matches at Armidale’s Bellevue Oval with under-16s beginning at 10am and the women’s match at 12.50pm.