IT was ironic Port City Breakers took a while to warm into their clash with Macleay Valley Mustangs in Port Macquarie on Sunday.
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As the temperature went up, the ball went down as the Breakers fumbled their way through 10 of their first 11 sets of the match.
It wasn’t until midway through the first half before they clicked into gear, running out comfortable 32-12 winners.
Coach Dan Kemp simply put the performance down to “early season ring rust.”
“It was a really uncomfortable day for footy; the boys were absolutely knackered after the warm-up,” he said.
“It was the sort of game where every individual dropped one; it wasn’t where one player in particular had a shocker.
“When that happens everything starts to compound.”
The Breakers led 12-6 at the break, before they went on with it in the second half with fullback Owen Blair providing another moment of brilliance.
Blair completed a 100-metre piece of solo play that saw him push away from three Mustangs defenders in his own in-goal.
The nippy custodian then raced 40 metres downfield, passed to centre Jarrod Robbins who then returned the favour as he ran the length of the field.
“Owen does things that others can’t do on a fairly regular basis so when he doesn’t do them it’s more unusual,” Kemp said.
“He tells us he’s put a few more kilos on in the off-season too, but we’re not sure about that.”
The Breakers coach admitted there was still plenty to work on ahead of the season opener against the Port Sharks on April 14.
“Our completions were poor and probably wouldn’t have been much better than they were last week,” he said.
“It’s only early in the season so it does happen and that’s all we’re about at the moment – making slight improvements.”
Dan Dumas was strong in his first match of the season, while Jeremy Smith and Trae Clarke suffered from concussion and Chris Piper suffered a chest injury.
The coach was unconcerned about Piper’s chances of being available for round one.
“He has no chest; he’ll be right,” he said.
Individual players could be selected for representative matches in coming weekends.
“As a group we won’t be together until the first round although a few of the boys will be picked for rep teams in coming weeks,” Kemp said.
“It’s not an ideal setup, but last year we went six weeks without a game so it’s the same for everyone.”