The Northern Heat colts and futures squads couldn't have impressed more in their clashes with the Coolangatta Blues and Broadbeach Cats on the Gold Coast on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The Heat colts (under 18s) overcame a slow start to beat the Blues 12.4 (76) to 6.9 (45) while the futures (under 16s) started and finished strongly in a 7.6 (48) to 5.4 (34) loss to the Cats.
In stiflingly hot and humid conditions Northern Heat program manager Paul Taylor said both teams played a positive, attacking brand of footy against teams that were up to 18 months older than them.
"The result was immaterial for us as the matches were all about the performance. We asked the team to play a system and the individuals to perform a role, and both of those elements shone through," Taylor said.
"We couldn't have asked for a better effort against much older teams. Both the Coolangatta Blues and Broadbeach Cats were extremely impressed with our group and are keen to continue to build the relationship in future years."
Starting off proceedings the Heat futures kicked two majors and held the Broadbeach under 17.5 team, scoreless in the opening term.
The Cats worked their way back into the match in the second quarter to narrow the Heats' lead to four points at the long break.
The humid conditions started to take their toll on the Heat in the third quarter. They were unable to hit the scoreboard as the Cats posted three majors.
But they showed great resilience in the final term to kick the last three scores of the match.
Trailing by 22 points, fatigued, and up against older and stronger players, Taylor said, it would have been easy to concede defeat, but the players dug deep and ran the match out far the stronger against their more experienced opponents.
The colts then trailed the Blues under 19s by 10 points at the quarter time break.
From that point on, the team found their stride and won each of the next three quarters.
It was in the third term that the group really hit their stride and played their best footy, kicking five goals against just one for the Blues.
The performance was all the more impressive for the fact that they were low on numbers due to player unavailability, so six of the futures team doubled up.
Taylor described their effort as a herculean one considering the very hot conditions, which saw the vast majority of players struggling with cramp late in the match.
The matches conclude the program for 2022/2023.
