Sport
10 July, 2023
Early errors cost Gladiators
IN a rare Sunday afternoon match at their home ground, the Mareeba Gladiators faced a crucial challenge against Brothers, needing a victory to maintain control over their destiny in the finals.
IN a rare Sunday afternoon match at their home ground, the Mareeba Gladiators faced a crucial challenge against Brothers, needing a victory to maintain control over their destiny in the finals.
Unfortunately, Mareeba began the game with a series of handling errors, putting themselves under immense pressure as Brothers quickly raced to a 10-0 lead.
However, the Gladiators showcased their resilience and fought back, narrowing the deficit to 14-12 by halftime.
The start of the second half saw Mareeba come out with great determination, scoring two tries within the first ten minutes and claiming a 22-14 lead.
However, their nemesis, errors, made a comeback and allowed Brothers to regain control of the game.
Despite this setback, the Gladiators never lost their never-say-die attitude and managed to score two late tries, ultimately succumbing to a 38-32 defeat.
Coach Chris Sheppard said he was proud with the team's effort, acknowledging that every player gave their all on the field.
“I'm rapt with the effort of the boys today. Everyone had a crack and I'll never be unhappy when we do that. We just need to learn to be more professional across the 80 minutes,” he said.
“We burnt a lot of juice at the start of the game with back-to-back errors and then in the second half we took the lead and changed what was working going back into error after error which hurt us. To the boy’s credit though, they stuck at it and came back late.
“That's one that got away from us but there's some really good learnings in that for us and if we can heed them, we'll be a pretty good team moving forward. Some really positive signs in that game.”
Mareeba had no shortage of standout players, with Caleb Dally earning the welldeserved Man of the Match award.
In the under 18 match, the Gladiators continued their dominant streak, securing an impressive 28-0 victory against Brothers, who held the fourth position.
This achievement was particularly remarkable considering that Mareeba had 14 players unavailable and had to field five under 16 players who proved themselves admirably on the field.
The Mareeba side will have the bye this weekend for the Mareeba Rodeo but will be back to face the Atherton Roosters at Mungalli Creek Stadium on 22 July.
