Cessnock Goannas coach Steve Kidd walked away from a 26-12 loss a proud man.
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Kidd knew the Goannas had fighting spirit but to match Newcastle RL competition heavyweight Western Suburbs almost to the end without nine regular first graders revealed the depth of that spirit across the entire squad.
“We actually played really well, we started pretty well and our defence was outstanding. They threw plenty at us and we forced them into some mistakes,” Kidd said
“At 14-12 we crossed and it was called held up and that would have put us back in front with five minutes to go.
“We were close enough but in the end we were not quite good enough.
“I wouldn’t say we were controlling the game, but we were competing very well. We just ran out of a bit and puff and they were a bit too quick for us in the last 15 minutes.
“All the defence we had done had taken a toll on us.”
Cessnock’s injury woes were compounded with Reed Hugo injuring his ankle and Cody Brooks aggravating a knee early in the game.
Kidd said Brendan Hlad played extended minutes to cover Brooks and was terrific.
“I though Marv Filipo was outstanding and Joe Woodbury scored a double in only his second game back from injury and he was pretty handy in defence,” he said
“One of the real positives was that Nick Lawrence made his first grade debut coming up from under 19s and he was outstanding.
“He took his chance and he’ll be back in first grade next week. He came off the bench to give OIiver Powell a break at hooker.
“Oliver has been outstanding the last three or four weeks. Nick did a good job, he probably played more minutes than we anticipated. He was very sharp.”
The Goannas are hopeful fullback Cal Edwards and half Jordy Worboys will return against South Newcastle this week, but are likely to be without Hugo and wing Chris Pyne on top of the other injuries. Brooks will be tested.
Kidd said the reserve grade players had been terrific in stepping up to cover the frustrating injury count.
“We just keep picking injuries up and not getting players back in a hurry. It’s disappointing, but there not injuries you can train for they are impact injuries or ACL or AC joints, things you can’t plan around,” he said.
“It is what it is, it gives younger players opportunities which bodes well for the end of the year and next season.
“Our reserve grade has been great, they are coming up and leaving themselves short but still had a good win on the weekend.”