Blues lose but still future hope

THE Coolangatta Tweed Blues lost their final Pineapple Hotel Cup game of the season but have big plans to up the ante in 2011.

Captain Daniel Hawkins said Saturday’s showdown with Palm Beach Currumbin at Salk Oval was close but the Lions’ experience won out in the end.

Palm Beach Currumbin sealed their place in the semi-finals with a 21.26 (152) to 17.7 (109) victory.

“The first three quarters were really competitive but the last quarter showed the inexperience of our younger players,” Hawkins said.

“We have eight under-18s on the team. Currumbin has a lot of older heads and it showed ... when the pressure was on, they came through.”

Hawkins said the lack of experience had contributed to the Blues missing out on the finals this season but he predicted a bright future for the young squad.

“The competitiveness of the game was very encouraging and hopefully the under-18s we had this year will stick around for next year,” he said.

“We hope to make some of the under-18s regular seniors over the summer.

“We have a hard time recruiting the older heads.

“We really need players over 25 and it would be good to recruit them for next year.”

Hawkins said a bash and crash approach against Currumbin was not enough to win.

“You have to go hard against Currumbin all day if you’re going to win,” he said.

Dylan Cicolella led the way on the scoreboard with four majors while Ogla Pena, Ali Pinda, Gagu Kaiyage and Blake Ebsworth all kicked two goals apiece.

Other goalscorers were Hawkins, James Barrett, Paul Philip, Brendon White and Mark McGill.