FNQ Bulls face tough Australia Day weekend
THERE will be no relaxing on the Australia Day long weekend for the FNQ Bulls, with the Queensland State League club slated to play two 11-a-side matches and a sevens soccer tournament in Townsville over two days.
The Bulls will play a full-length trial match against the Whitsunday Miners on Saturday week, followed by another hit out against the North Queensland Razorbacks the next day.
Wedged between on the Saturday evening is a sevens tournament at Dairy Farmers Stadium featuring the Bulls, Razorbacks, Miners and an invitational team made up of under-19 players from each club.
The tournament will be played as a curtain raiser to the North Queensland Fury versus Brisbane Roar A-League clash.
Matches will last 14 minutes with teams to play each other once before the top two sides play off in the grand final.
Bulls president Alex Srhoj said the players would relish the chance to perform in front of A-League coaches and recruiters.
"The boys are buzzing about it. They are excited they are going to be playing at Dairy Farmers," he said.
"Especially some of the younger boys. I think some of them are already getting a bit nervous.
"It will be a big weekend and it will be a long weekend for us but I think it’s going to be worthwhile."
Bulls coach Peter Tokesi said his focus would be the 11-a-side matches.
"There are a couple of things we’ve been working on at training I want to see us try and do," he said.
"Even if we do those things for 10 minutes out of the 90 I’ll be happy because it takes a lot of repetition before it becomes natural.
"The sevens is a little bit of fitness and a little bit of fun but in saying that we won’t be going out there to lose."
Tokesi said the Bulls still had work to do before the start of the season.
"We’ve been training OK but need to pick it up," he said.
"I had a few words to them about it at training on Tuesday night that I thought they were being complacent.
"While it’s true we’re way ahead of where we were last year we need to raise the bar if we want to
improve."
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