Sport
17 April, 2023
Errors haunt Gladiators
IT was a long afternoon of rugby league on Sunday for the Mareeba Gladiators in their FNQ Rugby League A-grade game against the Kangaroos with some late team changes and poor handling in oppressive condition contributing to their 42-10 loss.
The Gladiators started well enough and although the Kangaroos broke the ice first they were right in the game.
In the first hour the visitors defended stoutly and at one stage seven consecutive dropped balls allowed the Kangaroos to attack repeatably but the Gladiators line held.
On the last of these sets the Kangaroos kicked the ball dead and Ty Grogan and Hubie Elu pounced with a quick tap and raced 80m to score.
Two late tries in the half saw the Kangaroos take a 16-6 lead into halftime.
The second half was no better with the Gladiators unable to build pressure due to dropped balls, the Kangaroos capitalised and emerged winner with a 42-10 score.
Gladiators coach Chris Sheppard said it was a tough lesson for the young Gladiators side.
“We are learning some tough lessons at the moment – you can’t give good opposition repeated opportunities attacking your try line,” he said.
“We had over 10 errors in each half which gifted the Kangaroos field position and possession which wore us down in the hot conditions.
“We’ve got to regroup now and work on the areas we need to and get ready to face Innisfail this week.”
The Gladiators will once again travel away to face off against Innisfail this Saturday in all three grades with A-grade kicking off at 6pm.
