Falcons show promise
BEFORE their first pre-season game of 2007, the Sunshine Coast Falcons were asked to display one key quality – enthusiasm.
And in front of the biggest crowd they will see all year, the new-look Falcons provided just that for coach Des Allen in a 20-10 loss against Norths at Quad Park last night in the main curtain-raiser to the Manly-Melbourne NRL trial.
In their second year in the FOGs Cup competition, it is almost like the Coast is starting all over again.
More than half of last season’s squad which just missed out on playing in the finals in their debut year has moved on.
Whether their replacements are of equal quality remains questionable but last night’s display will have heartened Allen and his support staff.
The Falcons scored the only points in the first 20 minutes, a try to one of the newcomers, winger Chris Anderson, which was converted by Kris Boyce, one of the stayers from ’06.
The home side kept their tryline intact for almost half an hour and remained in front until Norths hooker Gene Vaasfusuuaga gained his side’s second try.
Any chance the Falcons had of winning their opening trial just about disappeared with a close-range effort from five-eighth Josh Capell with 15 minutes left which extended the Devils’ lead to 14-6.
The advantage had built to 20-6 when second-rower Matt Keating’s powerful charge was rewarded with the Falcons’ second try, just before fulltime.
The Falcons’ FOGs Cup season starts on March 17.
Sunshine Coast will not have a team in the Under-17 South-East Challenge final after the Black side lost 30-18 to the Ipswich Diggers yesterday. They had earlier been passed on the points table by the South-West Mustangs, who defeated the Sunshine Coast Gold side 30-10.
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