Redbacks start slowly against USQ

Contributed

The Warwick's Gardens Galore Redbacks went down in their round 8 match against USQ Cougars Warwick Credit Union Oval on Saturday 10.5.65 to 12.12.84.

With both teams struggling with numbers in recent weeks it was anyone’s guess as to which way this game would go.

The Cougars came out of the gates at a hundred mile an hour piling on six goals to none in the first term, Hawksworth bagging three of his own to propel the Cougars early dominance.

After crawling to the quarter time break trailing by 37 points the Redbacks finally turned up to play returning serve with a six goal to one quarter of their own.

The Redbacks midfield brigade of Clarkson, White and Grogan gained the advantage in clearance count, Connor Lloyd played his first game at half back and relished in the role, and the forward duo of Brendan and Shane Iles gained the upper hand inside 50.

The third quarter was a genuine arm wrestle with both teams hungry for the win. Jake Peasnell hit the scoreboard with a running snap, Brendan Iles kicked his second and defender Cory Buhagiar ran down the ground to snag his first goal for the year.

University responded with three goals of their own in the quarter to take a slender 10-point lead into the final break

The Redbacks lost full forward Shane Iles to a leg injury in the third quarter which proved to be game changing. Clarkson kicked the Redbacks only goal in the last quarter courtesy of lightning fast hands from Peasnell dishing a handball to the running Clarkson who nailed the goal.

Warwick had a lot of possession and moved the ball well in the final term but couldn’t hit a target inside 50. The Cougars defence lifted and were able to run the ball out of their backline linking up well and putting on two final quarter goals to finish the game 19

Goal scorers

T.Clarkson -2 S.Iles - 2 B.Iles - 2 J.Grogan - 1 J.Peasnell - 1 S.Platz - 1 C.Buhagiar -1 points clear of the Redbacks and hand them their third straight loss.

The Redbacks head to Toowoomba on Saturday (June 17) to take on South Toowoomba Bombers and desperately need a win to keep in touch with the top 4.