It was not the start the Seagulls wanted after a positive pre-season training and trial form, but coach Aaron Zimmerle has put the first round 34-6 Intrust Super Cup loss to the unpredictable Ipswich down to “experience”.
Behind 12-6 at half-time, the Seagulls – with two thirds of the team having just single-figure game experience at state cup level – were made to pay for errors and not being alert to the Jets’ unorthodox attacking style .
Photo: The Intrust Super Cup captains last week launched the season. These are the teams the Seagulls have to fire against in ensuing rounds.
Like the start of the second half when the Jets opted for a short kick-off – not to the left where they were lined out, but a grubber to the right. They came up with possession, an offload, support play and … try.
Who else does that, not when behind chasing points when behind, but when in front; not in the last 10 minutes but restarting a half?
The Jets’ next try came from a 90-metre intercept when the Seagulls had a four on two on the right. A lofted pass was snatched by their winger and it’s gone from 12-6 to 24-6 rather than potentially 18-10 or 12.
Zimmerle knows his side, in which there were five debutants and nine of the 17 had had less than 10 games’ experience at state cup level or above, were against perhaps the hardest team to defend against in the first match of the season.
So the coach can understand that some of his newcomers may have had some difficulty adapting. That boils down to experience.
“They are the masters of scoring out of nothing,” he lamented. “We turned over the ball on tackles three and four just when we were setting up. And when you do that against Ipswich you get tired chasing them, the way they play.
“We had five players on Queensland Cup debut and a few others who only had a handful of games between them, up against a team that plays as unorthodox as them for the first time.
“But we have to learn from that experience and get back to have we want to play next weekend.”
It was the energy and enthusiasm that Zimmo was disappointed with and he expects will improve against Mackay next weekend.
“They’d lose a ball out the back and have four or five players ready to pounce on it where we lacked blokes pushing up at times. Enthusiasm and energy can fix that, and as a group we know that and will address that.
“It’s not the round one performance we wanted but it is round one, and a tough one for the reasons just stated for a lot of the team.”
The other aspect the coaching staff know needs to improve is ball control in good field position.
Too many times the Gulls did well to get into the attacking zone, then came up with an error. And the Jets are a type of side who thrive on cheap possession as they are quite prepared to throw the ball from their end in direct retaliation – the kings of the long range try.
The good thing about footy is you only have to wait a week to bounce back, and that opportunity comes this Sunday in Mackay against a Cutters side that went down 24-4 against fellow Cowboys’ feeder team Northern Pride in round one.
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