The Bull Sharks head up to David Wilson Field for the round 16 clash with Easts. A severely depleted Premier Women’s’ side missing eight players on Reds duties, will face a side desperate to cement their place in the top four.
It is a big opportunity for Colts 1 who can lock away a finals berth with a win.
Premier Women.
Last time they met:
Rd 7, 2024 at The Canal.
Bull Sharks won 22-10
The opposition:
Easts are 3rd on the table for good reason, they are big, aggressive and have a talented backline, they will be hard to beat at home.
Shuffling the magnets:
Although it is terrific to see we have a large contingent of players representing the Reds this weekend which is great news for the club it unfortunately leaves us very depleted for our important clash. Many changes have to be made especially to our forward pack with many players drafted from Bond Pirates.
Ones to watch:
We will look to our talented backline to stand up this weekend, Princess Elliot has made a good go of her switch to the centres.
The Focus:
We need to get a win in this game to keep our spot in 2nd place heading into the finals.
Final word
Easts will be hard to beat at home on their Ladies Day. Hopefully the girls can get up and get the win.
With Shannon Symon.
Colts 1
Last time they met:
Bull Sharks won 26-24.
Where it will be won:
It has been the same for a few weeks now, it will be won up front. Moreso this week because we are facing a challenge that we haven’t had for a while. Easts bring a big heavy forward pack that lead the way for them. So we are going to have to match them to get us on the front foot.
Player to watch:
I think our midfield are going to be pretty important this weekend. Easts have big centres, including the Wallabies Under 20s centre, so I would like to think that John Horua is going to be primed for a big game. His defensive game is going to have to be on, so watch out for John.
Shuffling the magnets:
John Horua comes in at 12 and Callum Simpson will start at 10, they are the major changes in our backs. And captain Charlie Macauley returns from a head knock and comes back into the second row. That pushes Zeb Misios to the flank.
The focus:
It is to keep building on the momentum that we have had. We have been training a lot on a few more attacking plays this week as we feel there is an opportunity there for us to target their inside back and really ask questions of their defence.
Final word:
It is one game at a time for us now. We have had a couple of good wins, we’re not stopping there and are looking to take another step and get better. And we are going to have to against a good Easts side on their home deck.
With Rico Gear.
Premier Men
Last time they met:
Brothers won 28-27.
The opposition:
Easts up at Easts is a tough assignment. We owe them because they scored in the last play of the game to beat us at home last time we played them. That hurt us.
Shuffling the magnets:
Hooker Jack Winchester is under a bit of an injury cloud, and we’ll have to see how he trains on Thursday night.
One to watch:
Rhys Sherrif will be a key for us. If he can get dominance at scrum, it would set the platform for us.
The work to do:
With finals out of the equation we want to focus on correcting the parts of our game that have let us down this year. We had 6 first phase turnovers on the weekend, we have to hold on to the ball more. It is hard to win a game when you only have 38 per cent possession. That is our biggest issue at the moment.
The final word:
Our maul defence has been something we’ve been working on, and we held our own at the set piece against Brothers which was pleasing. We’ need to build on that this week.
With Sean Hedger.