THE Springwood Pumas have vowed there will not be a repeat of a bleak experience the last time they played Coolangatta.
It was in round three on the Gold Coast, when the Blues wore fund-raising pink jerseys, that Springwood lost by 126 points, which remains one of the season’s lowlights for the club.
On home turf on Saturday, coach Paul Opbroek says the Pumas have plenty to play for.
“It’ll be no pink day for them again,” he declared.
“The last time we played these guys is was embarrassing. They pasted us down there so we’re looking to turn the tide a bit.”
The Pumas have added some much-needed height with the returns of forward Andrew Sponneck and ruckman Tiger Monk and utility Jye Hall is back from the under-18s.
They replace Alex Quirk, Matt Hendry and Nathan McCloy from the side that lost to Wilston-Grange last round.
Coolangatta have made four changes to the side that as beaten by Burleigh in the Gold Coast derby last weekend.
Out are Ali Pinda (suspended), Nathan Frost (knee) and the omitted pair of Ronan Gibson and Matt Gallagher.
A huge gain is Sam Carins, who missed the Burleigh encounter because his wife was giving birth to a daughter.
Also into the side are forward Nathan Millard, Danny Maxwell and Coolangatta junior Jim Barrett for his seniors debut.
Coach Neil Mackay refuses to write Coolangatta off as a finals chance, despite the Blues shaky position on the ladder with four wins and five losses which leaves them eight points out of the top five.
“We didn’t set finals as our goal,” said Mackay. “Our first goal was to have eight wins for the year, which meant is was a matter of going through each week and adding to your score.
“If we win this weekend we go 5-5, then we’d still be around the mark (for the finals).”
