The Queensland squad is leaving nothing to chance with their preparation for Saturday’s interstate clash with Tasmania at Fankhauser Reserve.
Tuesday 8 June 2010
The Queensland squad is leaving nothing to chance with their preparation for Saturday’s interstate clash with Tasmania at Fankhauser Reserve.
Three members of the coaching panel spent last Saturday combing Tasmania to watch key members of the opposing side in action.
It crystalised a number of thoughts for coach Jason Cotter – which he was understandably unwilling to share publicly – in the lead-up to the crunch game.
The Maroons brains trust has been working away behind the scenes on winning the interstate game for several months – and the Tasmanians know it.
“They are starting to analyse us already and getting film from our games and studying us as we did to them last year,” Tasmanian coach Matthew Armstrong said when he announced the initial squad early last month.
“We took it very, very seriously last year and we’ll do it the same again but it is going to be much harder.
“I think we caught them out with our professionalism and how fair dinkum we were. I don’t think that is going to happen again this year. It hurt them last year so we are going to have a game on our hands.”
Armstrong is seeking his second win over Queensland in the space of the three weeks – as coach of the Apple Islanders’ nab under 18 national championships side, he enjoyed a seven-point win over the Australia Post Scorpions in Sydney a fortnight ago.
Queensland’s 27-man squad will train at Fankhauser Reserve tonight, where the captain is expected to be named, and again in Brisbane on Thursday.
They will stay together overnight on the Gold Coast on Friday for a team meeting and bonding, before Saturday’s 2pm bouncedown.
