Wingham Tigers 36 def Port Sharks 16
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IT seems to be one of those years, as coach Wayne Grant puts it, for the Port Macquarie Sharks.
They had recently strung together a couple of strong wins and were pushing for the top four, but impressive five-eighth Corey Murphy, who copped a head knock in the second half, said it was more about mentality for the team.
“A bit of everything went wrong. Our attitude was the biggest thing,” he said.
Last week, Murphy targeted defence and attitude as the focus of their training.
“To tell you the truth it will probably win the comp. That’s our focus. The fewer points we have scored against us the more chance we have to win the game,” Murphy said leading in to their clash with Wingham.
“Four weeks ago it might have been harder to keep composed, but now our attitude is so much better. Everyone wants to play for each other and cover each other.”
While that is still true, unfortunately for the home side things did not go to plan at the Port Macquarie Regional Stadium on Saturday.
Murphy bagged a hattrick last week and followed that with a try on Saturday, with Witch Wilbow and Kieran Gallagher the other scorers for the home side.
Grant was honest about the performance, saying some late tries to Wingham saw the scoreline grow.
“We were always in the game but we didn’t capitalise on the chances we had,” he said.
“They got a couple of late tries which blew the score out, so it (the score) wasn’t a true indication of the match.”
When asked what went wrong, Grant simply said it was mental more than anything.
“It was our mindset really. The players are there, but we just couldn’t take our chances. I wish I could put my finger on it,” he said.
“We were pretty much full strength and really had no excuses. We need to string together a few wins.
“It’s just one of those years where things aren’t going our way when we’d like it to. It’s just one of those things. As long as we can get there at the end of the year, which I’m confident we can.”
Captain Tom Maguire was as strong as ever up front, while surprise new recruit, Connor Cheeseman, did well on debut for the Sharks.
Cheeseman has played in the National Youth Competition, most recently for Canberra, and relocated to Canberra this year to train with the Canberra Raiders.
Unfortunately things did not work out, and Grant was happy to field a phone call from the former Breaker.
“He phoned us and looked for a start and we’re just happy to have him. He brings a good standard to the club,” Grant said.
The Sharks have Kempsey away next week, one of the toughest trips on the calendar.