Bull Sharks across all grades spent the week focussing on skills after mistake riddled performances against Easts in round three of Queensland Premier Rugby.
The reigning premier women were good enough to get the job done in the 2024 grand final rematch but it cost the Premier Men and Colts 1 who both went down in close games.
Bull Sharks v Easts at The Canal
Premier Men
Easts won 22-20
How it was lost
There were just too many unforced errors, between silly penalties and dropped balls, I counted 28 unforced errors. And that is perfect for Easts. They didn’t dominate us, but they were good enough to take advantage of what we gave them. We got ourselves in front with five minutes to go and again a bad error let them back in.
The turning point
We lost two guys within five minutes of each other in the first half. We thought they were both ruptured ACLs, so we have dodged a bullet there. But Jordy Lenac has a badly torn hamstring, and Cobie Walters has sprained his ACL, so they are both out for six weeks. Thankfully it isn’t more serious, but we struggled without them in the second half.
What made you happy
Rhys Sherrif and Harrison Usher put in a good shift. The scrum, which we were worried about going into the game, wasn’t a factor. Easts are a set piece, they want a lot of scrums and they didn’t get the dominance they usually get so that was a positive.
The fall out
We got our leaders in on the Monday after the game for a bit of a heart-to-heart discussion about what we need to do to become a good football team. On the Tuesday we showed the side video of the game and I think some guys that haven’t been practicing the skills they need to be practising got a bit of a wake up call.
Bull Sharks Footy
Unfortunately, that is still eluding us. Everyone need to understand that you build trust within a team by being able to rely on each other to execute the basic skills. And when you don’t it erodes trust. We have to rebuild by focussing on the basics.
Trademark Player
I thought Syris Schmidt was very good. He got us out of trouble with his boot and he was really solid with his defence. And his catching of high balls in the wet conditions was good.
With Mick Heenan
Colts 1
Easts won 28-21
How it was lost
We got off to a bad start and conceded two early tries. One was an intercept which we could have avoided. We fought back well but we made some errors when we had them under a tonne of pressure. And they were able to capitalise on the opportunity that we gave them.
What made you happy
The fightback was very good. We didn’t panic at all, we just settled into our game and fought back to 14-14, so that fightback was good. We were probably playing the better rugby, but we just didn’t capitalise.
The work to do
We are just a little bit careless. We had one occasion when we should have exited, and we ran it instead and it didn’t work out. So, there are some game management learnings to be had there.
Bull Sharks Footy
Because we have a lot of talent in our outside backs, we want to try and get the ball there as often as possible. When we did that on the weekend, we were able to score. I think the play when we got the ball to Spencer Cotti who was able to put Mason King away for a try was an example of how we want to play.
Trademark Player
Mason King in his first game for us scored a couple of tries and was dangerous all day. We have been easing him in, but he will be a key player for us this year. He runs great lines and is a handful for the opposition defence.
The final word
We are not far off and when it clicks, I think we are going to be very hard to beat. But we can’t take comfort from that. It has to happen soon, so we need to keep working on it.
With Rico Gear
Premier Women
Bull Sharks won 48-12
How it was won
It was a bit of a grind. We had to build into it. There was a lot of mistakes but also a lot of good things too. We are starting to get the little things right around the rucks. So, when this works, we look good, but we still have lapses of concentration.
What made you happy
The young talent is exciting, they are only into their first couple of games of Premier Rugby and the rugby IQ isn’t there yet, but they are learning fast. That development has been exciting to see. The game play also, they are picking up things that they didn’t have any idea about in the first game.
The work on
The ball presentation, we haven’t quite got it right with our attack support players getting where they need to be in time. So, we will continue to train that.
Bull Sharks Footy
It is a series of skills sets, a strong carry that promotes a good ruck, which allows ruck speed and then we do it again. And from there we can make the best attacking decision.
One of the last tries when Zara crossed over, that whole try was set up by playing our way.
Trademark Player
Zara Colless managed the game really well, got the players where they needed to be and got us out of trouble with her kicks.
With Lawrence Faifua