Dolphins get “wake-up call” in narrow loss to Magpies
Redcliffe co-captain Kyle Schneider believes his team has been given a much-needed wake-up call after falling short of the two points against Souths Logan in Round 18.
As has been a consistent theme of the Dolphins’ season so far, it was a tough, tight and gritty clash at Kayo Stadium on Saturday night, with the Magpies going home the victors at 30-24.
Souths Logan’s ultimately came from their early dominance in the second half, with the Magpies getting out to an 18-point lead by the 57th minute.
It took plenty of fight for Redcliffe to make their way back into the match – inspired by prop Josh Allen who claimed two tries in the 64th and 76th minutes – and while they certainly applied plenty of pressure in the dying stages, it just wasn’t enough to force a draw or secure a win.
With the Dolphins having won four of their last six, Schneider said this was a timely reminder that they can’t afford to make too many mistakes if they want to be in the finals mix come September.
“It’s a bit of a tough one to swallow, coming so close at the end,” he said.
“It’s probably a bit of a wake-up call that we needed.
“There’s things we need to improve on… I think just pulling into shape a bit more out of our own end, working on those little penalties and little handling errors that are leading us to turning the ball over and giving them back-to-back sets on our line there.
“We didn’t do what we wanted to do and starve them of the ball. We gave them too much ball and too many easy outs.
“We sort of kept them alive there and it showed at the back end of the game there against us.
“Off the back of that (loss), it will give us something to work towards now, leading into finals, hopefully.”
Outside of Allen, the Dolphins found points in the opening stanza through halfback Josh James and winger Will Dobson, with Souths Logan going into halftime up 16-12.
With just five weeks left of competition – plus a break over the first weekend of August – Redcliffe are determined to knuckle down to ensure they are playing finals footy again this year.
Next week they will head to Goondiwindi to take on the Ipswich Jets for the competition’s Country Round.
The Jets overcame the Dolphins in Round 10, with a narrow 22-20 victory, but Schneider said the team will be well-prepared as they aim to avoid a repeat loss.
“Jets are going to be another tough task,” he said.
“They’re travelling pretty well.
“It’ll be on the road and we just need to make sure that we take what we can out of this game and make sure we’re improving going into next week and trying to get the win next week.”