IT'S a new year, a new group and a new attitude for the Pride but some old wounds still remain raw.

The Pride are one win away from a second successive Queensland Cup grand final and while they are putting the title out of their heads for now, the memory of coming so close last year remains clear.

Forward Mark Cantoni has been one of the Pride’s most consistent players in their first three years in the competition and will be one of their most important when they face Souths Logan this Sunday.

Cantoni admitted the memory of last year’s grand final loss still lingered.

"The hurt of last year’s grand final is definitely a bit of a driving force for me personally," the Malanda Eels junior said.

"But at the same time, it’s a new group of blokes and we’re all just taking it week to week and trying to put it together each game."

The Pride has reached the semi-finals on the back of a club record 10-game winning streak, something that looked unlikely part way through the year.

"I don’t know whether you can put your finger on one particular thing that’s a reason for the 10 in a row," Cantoni said.

"But I think we’re just jelling as a team and playing as a team and everyone’s having a dig for each other.

‘‘It just seems to be working at the moment."

That record has bred confidence but Cantoni said the Pride were wary of heading into Sunday’s game against the minor premiers with too much bravado.

"You don’t want to be over-confident. We’ve been there last year, so we’ll take a bit of confidence from that but at the same time we know every game is going to be tough from now on."

The Pride has developed a great rivalry with the Magpies in their short history in the Queensland Cup, especially after losing a golden-point preliminary final to them in their maiden season 2008.

"The last couple of years we’ve really had some tough games against them and I know that’ll continue this weekend," Cantoni said. "We’d love nothing more than to knock them off this weekend, it might be a bit of revenge."

Cantoni will definitely be in the mix on Sunday, but coach David Maiden has a mammoth selection headache ahead of today’s team announcement.

Four Cowboys squad members – Ty Williams, Nick Slyney, Michael Bani and Clint Amos – are available for selection after playing 50 per cent of more of their games this season in the Queensland Cup.

But after winning the last two games with an entirely local squad, Maiden knows he is going to leave some players unhappy.

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