We need to work on game management

Hello everyone, welcome to the 11th ‘Churchie’s Comment’ for the year in your favourite rugby league newspaper — The National.
Round five saw the SP Hunters face hosts Burleigh Bears for the Kokoda Cup at Pizzey Park on the Gold Coast.
The match was a physical encounter with both teams up for the challenge. The Hunters failed to apply enough pressure throughout the match to capitalise on all our hard work.
We missed the experience of injured pair Epel Kapinias and Wartovo Puara Jr for the game.
In saying this, we still felt that it was an opportunity missed on the weekend. We competed hard till the end and I’m happy with our effort in the game. We need to work on our game management and this is something that comes with time and experience.
We have a young group in terms of experience at Intrust Super Cup level. While we lack experience, these players do bring a lot of energy. While we love the energy, sometimes in the game situations the extra exuberance takes the individual out of the system. Especially our defensive system, a player trying to solve a problem on their own takes them out of alignment. The best defensive teams defend as a team, not individually.
We tried to solve too many problems by ourselves. A vital lesson to take away from the game is that we are stronger together.
After the game, we farewelled Watson Boas in a brief team meeting. Boas returned to the United Kingdom on Monday and we bade farewell to him and wished him the best of luck for the season ahead with Doncaster.
His departure opens the door for an opportunity in the halves. We have used young Judah Rimbu sparingly in the first five rounds, looking for opportunities to play him in the halves. We managed to get him a few minutes against the Falcons a few weeks ago.
While Rimbu has come on and played out of position, he has played up-tempo while remaining calm and measured. There’s a lot to like about this youngster, he will get the first opportunity to make that spot his own and I look forward to seeing him develop as a Hunter.
We head into a bye week, this comes at a good time for our programme and a few of our players. This rest should allow a few injuries to heal and a few more numbers to select from, when we play round six.
Until next week, stay safe, play safe and let’s all respect and be kind to each other.

Cheers,
Matt