Gladstone players don green and gold
IT is the annual Trans Tasman touch clash this weekend at Tweed Heads, and four Gladstone-based players – Laurie Anno, Fred Roeser, Linden Finlay, Jimmy Radloff – don the green and gold jerseys for three matches against the arch enemy.
Anno is again coach for the series in his age division, and his finely tuned outfit contains mostly Queenslanders.
The competition will be tough, and although the team last trained together a month ago, Anno expects his players to be fit and ready to go.
The strength of the Australian team lies in the middle of the ground, the coach said.
“Our one weakness might be the wingers, but as long as we can stop them, we'll be right,” Anno said. “They play a different style to us, so we learn some things from them, and they learn from us.”
While there's a real desire for bragging rights over the Kiwis, once the game is over, there's always a bit of socialising to be done.
“It's good to catch up with mates, and make some new ones,” he said. “We get on pretty well off the field and they (NZ) like a drop or two.”
The first game against the Kiwis is tomorrow night, followed by matches against a best-of-the-best Oceania line-up.
