By @JulianTFA at Sunshine Coast Stadium, Queensland
It was a light, bright Sunshine Coast Stadium that set the stage and tone for the business end of the 2016 Harvey Norman NYC tournament; with titles on the line and tight finishes the order of the day. A flat fast track on field one through seven set up a Super Saturday of freestyling Touch Football and finals hopes and dreams delivered and dashed.
In the first semi-final of the day in front a packed stadium, it was the NSW Development girls’ team that opened their account early against the South-Queensland Sharks booking their place in the final with an emphatic 4-1 win. In the other match a dominant QSST rolled on and over the Brisbane Cobras 11-3 setting up an Origin finale, youth style.
Ahead of the mid-afternoon ‘NSW Dev’ v QSST grand final, coach in the blue corner, Barry Gibson was calm and quietly confident of his girls’ prospects going into the decider.
“Look, they (QSST) will be a massive hurdle, but we are going to give everything we’ve got,†he said in a relaxed frame, post team recovery.
“We’ve got a good game plan and structures and the girls are all buying into that.
“There are a few niggles in the group but we have 15 girls who desperately want to win. They are very excited and are all enjoying themselves which is what it’s all about.
From the moment Maddison Higgins-Ashby crossed early for NSW Development, they looked assured and ready to go another step further into this competition. The Origin like finale promises to be a beauty with both teams primed for a stellar finish.
Over on field two, Gibson’s fellow national Under 17’s coach (boys), Jason Boyd too was quietly confident but expecting a tough grand final rematch from last year. His QSST lads primed too for the big one against Central Queensland Bulls (A).
“Very pleased actually just the way they finished off the game (against the South Queensland Sharks),†Boyd said following the 12-6 win over the Sharks.
“We layed down some good structure in our defence and pushed on with our attack which was good,†he added.
“They run the play book really well and can elaborate on that when need be.â€
With just a few hours till the finals (3.20pm girls/4.20pm boys), Boyd wasn’t getting himself or his team ahead of themsleves on the cusp of a repeat victory and national youth honours.
“You can never be too confident. It will be a classic rematch and another great final. They have some great youth coming through and are building form strength-to-strength.â€
In the other semi-final encounter CQ Bulls (A) overcame a spirited NSWCHS 11-5 to cement their spot in the grand final replay.
Watch out for the sibling rivalry as the brothers’ Moore go at it in the final: Blake of the QSST variety and Aaron for the CQ Bulls. There will be no love lost nor quarter gained as the respecitive number sixes see just who is the best of breed and claims bragging rights in the Moore household of Rockhampton.
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