The Northern Heat representative squad overcame an extremely challenging week of venue changes, time changes, and a COVID outbreak to record an outstanding victory against Southport-Beenleigh Colts.
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The match nearly didn't go ahead. Brisbane's COVID outbreak saw yet another time and venue change made late on Friday night, before the outbreak also threw up doubts about the ability of the match to proceed on game day.
The final score was 23.10-148 to 2.3-15.
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The squad showed remarkable resilience to ignore all of these distractions and put together a thoroughly professional performance once they were finally able to get onto the park.
The game plan was to rely on moving the ball forward by handball as had been practiced since the start of the program.
In the first five minutes the squad forgot about this and relied on long kicks forward, however the first goal of the match to the Heat in the fifth minute saw the squad settle and from that point on they took the advantage in both possession and territory.
Four goals to one in the opening term was a just reward for the Heat's efforts.
In the second quarter the Heat stepped up the intensity and kept Southport-Beenleigh scoreless, whilst at the same time adding a further four goals to their own scoreline.
The team played their best footy in the third quarter and really dominated all key statistics during this period.
Southport-Beenleigh struggled to lay a hand on the Heat players as they booted a further six goals to one and extended the lead to over 80 points.
The Heat struggled to maintain their intensity early in the fourth quarter, however the superior fitness gained from the completion of their summer strength and conditioning program saw them run over the top of their opponents in this quarter.
Without playing their absolute best footy, the Heat added nine goals to none as Southport-Beenleigh wilted in the face of the relentless onslaught.
From the match, Grafton's Mikey Luxton was deemed to be best on ground for the Heat and received the Martin Medal.
Tamworth's Jack Dadd received the Anderson Medal for most committed to the program.
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