Courtesy of the Mackay Daily Mercury
MACKAY Cutters coach Paul Bramley is likely to select his first-choice team, including dual-registered North Queensland Cowboys, for their final pre-season hit-out against the Cowboys under 20 team at the Junior Rugby League Grounds this weekend.
However, back rower Todd Titmus won’t be there after tearing a calf muscle during Saturday’s 10-18 loss to Redcliffe at Shark Park.
Former Comet Titmus, 24, who missed four months with a broken vertebra last year, is likely to be sidelined for four to six weeks after playing in the Queensland Cup trial.
Bramley used all 27 players of his new-look squad, on a field that held up well considering recent rain.
In typical pre-season fashion, Saturday’s match included plenty of penalties and errors. But there were some moments of note, including a ferocious tackle by Proserpine product Tyson Martin and some darting runs from Dean Tass.
And while the Cutters looked lost on occasions, Bramley said former coach Shane Muspratt gave them plenty of direction in the halves and at lock.
“I think we looked the better side when Shane was on the park,” he said, before commending prop Liam McDonald and hooker Neil Budworth for their efforts.
Budworth ran well from dummy-half, holding the ball to the line before releasing support players.
Michael Meigan also showed good skills in the second half.
Former Mackay footballer Michael Roberts, now the Redcliffe hooker, helped open the scoring after 20 minutes when he rolled a grubber into the in-goal for forward Matt Handcock to pounce on. Fullback Liam Georgetown converted.
Dolphins halfback Mick Wilson had his team moving freely around the fringes for most of the game and he put Redcliffe further ahead on the half-hour when he broke the line and found Kris Kahler in support, who threw an inside pass for Adam Mara to score. Georgetown’s conversion helped his team to a 12-0 advantage at the break.
The STM Cutters started the second half with a fresh line-up but handling errors and a defensive lapse on the left side allowed Georgetown to put winger Mitch Rivett over, before converting for an 18-0 lead.
Mackay broke through midway through the second stanza when interchange hooker Brad Lovern put Meigan over the line. Star Cutters signing Josh Hannay, who had a quiet game, converted.
Meigan’s inside ball to Todd Seymour, who spent time at fullback, led to a try before the full-time siren wailed in fading light.
Bramley said his players dropped too much ball, particularly at their end.
But he also said try-scoring opportunities were stemmed because of poor refereeing decisions.
The officials weren’t up to the standard required for state league, he said.
“It was disappointing actually,” he said after his team was caned by penalties.
“It was a pretty quick game but they (officials) struggled.”
Bramley said some of his team’s try-scoring chances were spoiled, pointing out an incident in which Dean Tass came close to scoring.
“It is (only) a trial but they killed some of our momentum.”
M&DRL Referees Association director Dave Parnell was at the game and said he couldn’t see a fault from the referees. “For a trial I thought the standard of refereeing was appropriate,” he said.
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