BEATEN, but not disgraced.
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That’s how Mid North Coast Sharks women’s 27s coach Steve van Gamert described their performance at the National Oztag Championships at Coffs Harbour.
The Sharks fought above their weight and progressed to the final eight teams in the country before the ACT eliminated them from the competition in a 5-1 win.
While disappointed, van Gamert admitted “there is something building with this group of girls” despite the loss.
“While it sounds like more of the same, it shows how much the girls have improved,” he said.
“They gave a good account of themselves and I don’t think previously they would have made the quarter-finals because the other teams were that strong.”
“We were dwarfed by what we could select in terms of players,” van Gamert said.
The girls gave a good account of themselves and I don’t think previously they would have made the quarter-finals because the other teams were that strong.
- Mid North Coast Sharks women's 27s coach Steve van Gamert
The only lopsided result for the Sharks was an 8-1 defeat to Country Bulls who cover an area from the start of the Central Coast up to Newcastle.
“These are Australian regions and we’ve got girls all from Port Macquarie,” van Gamert said.
“Teams like Cronulla take in Cronulla to Wollongong and Sydney Warriors cover all of the Sydney-Metropolitan area.”
The coach said Mandy McCudden along with co-captains Claire Thurlow and Laura Cudmore had “exceptional” performances.
“They set the standard for all of the girls to follow,” he said.
The Sharks’ men’s 45s suffered grand final heartbreak when they were beaten 6-5 by Vipers despite holding a 3-1 lead at half-time.
Coach Dave Bradley said they had no luck in the tournament after Steve van Gamert suffered a knee injury on the first day and then Deon Glassie went down with a torn calf muscle.
We were dwarfed by what we could select in terms of players.
- Steve van Gamert
It was the eighth year out of the last nine where they had made the final.
“We should have won, but missed some tags and the bounce of the ball just didn’t go our way,” Bradley said.
“We probably went away from our game plan a bit in the second half.”
The coach was most disappointed that his team “let themselves down” in the second half.
“You can’t let in five tries in a game of tag and expect to win a final,” he said.
“It was a disappointing end to a really good tournament, but that’s footy.”
Bradley said it had been a while since the Sharks men’s 45s had lost a final and conceded their golden run could be ending.
“I can’t remember the last final we lost with this group of boys; it would have been a while,” he said.
I can’t remember the last final we lost with this group of boys; it would have been a while.
- Mid North Coast Sharks men's 45s coach Dave Bradley
“We’re probably getting towards the end of our time with this group, but we’ve had some fun along the way.”
The Sharks played eight games across the weekend, winning five.
They defeated Tamworth 3-2, Brisbane Marlins 5-4, Wests Tigers 9-2, Sunshine Coast 5-3 and Souths 5-1 in the quarter final.
Souths earlier beat them 3-1 in the competition and Vipers also proved too good with a 3-1 win.
“Every game was tough – there wasn’t an easy game,” Bradley said.
“We walked off at full-time in the final and the blokes were saying ‘what did we just do’, but that’s footy.”
Bradley was confident the Sharks would have a couple of players selected in the Australian team for next year’s World Cup.
He will be the coach of the national team.
“There were definitely some blokes that put their hand up and you don’t make a final and not get at least three or four in the team,” he said.
