ANY plans the Northern Pride had of flying under the Queensland Cup radar have been well and truly blown after the club's 32-18 win against competition powerhouse Redcliffe yesterday.
The win against last year’s Grand Finalist and the most successful club in Queensland Cup history kept the Pride on top of the competition ladder after two rounds.
It also sounded a warning to any opponent that might not have taken them seriously that the Pride will be an immediate threat in the
competition.
The Pride dominated the Dolphins throughout yesterday’s clash, racing to a 12-0 lead and pushing the margin out to 32-12 in the second stanza before conceding an 80th minute try to finish 32-18 winners. The win is the fledgling club’s second from two Queensland Cup outings but came as no real surprise to coach Andrew Dunemann, who headed into the clash quietly confident of an upset.
"I think we’ve got every reason to be confident – whether it pans out that way, who knows but I think we’ve got the team there to challenge them in certain areas," Dunemann said before the team flew out of Cairns.
So it proved yesterday as the Pride again showed their backline flair coupled with forward strength.
Redcliffe has one of the most experienced packs in the competition with players such as Troy Lindsay, Danny Burke and Michael Roberts boasting hundreds of Queensland Cup games between them.
The Pride boasted Cowboys Matthew Bartlett, David Faiumu and Ben Vaeau – who joined the team yesterday after not being needed by the Cowboys on Saturday night – in their pack and had plenty of talent in the backline, with wingers Josh Vaughan and Gordon Rattler, and Ty Williams scoring tries.
The coach praised the attitude of his returning Cowboys, with hooker Faiumu strong from dummy-half and Williams praised for an outstanding individual try. But it was Tully product Joel
Reithmuller that was singled out.
"He was outstanding once again," Dunemann said of the second-rower who returned from the Ipswich Jets for his chance to play with a local club. Joely was the best player on the park by a mile."
At 180cm and 97kg, Reithmuller is not a physically dominant forward but plays above his weight as a ball-playing forward, hole runner and strong defender.
"I’d appeal to anyone not to be put off by his size," Dunemann said.
