Panthers too strong for Valkyries

West Brisbane Panthers were in familiar surroundings when they faced off against the Valkyries at Frank Lind Oval for their Round 6 match, coming away with a 44-point win. 

The tone was set when the Panthers scored in the third minute of play and unfortunately for the young Valkyries side, they struggled to catch them for the whole game.

Valkyries head coach, Wayne Treleaven, said the score was disheartening, but he was proud of how his team performed. 

“They had a dig again, so I can’t say they didn’t try,” Treleaven said after the match. 

“We had a halfback turn up today we hadn’t seen and a back rower, it's not easy for them to play in that sort of position.” 

But it wasn’t all doom and gloom for the home side, after the away team’s first two consecutive tries, the Valkyries became a resolute in defence and the West Brisbane team seemed to feel the pressure.  

For 20 minutes, the Valkyries shut down every attempt the winning team tried, with Lyllian Mikaio and Georgina Tuitaalili standing their ground on the line, with their effort being rewarded by errors for the visitors. 

Treleaven blamed the Valkyries’ inability to use these errors to their advantage on their lack of time together as a team.

“It comes back to being able to capitalise when you’re in the position to strike and keep the pressure up, but we dropped the ball," Treleaven said.

“It's just the execution and the rhythm; we play like we train, and we don’t train unfortunately.” 

However, the Panthers were full of star performers and in the second half, they found their rhythm and bulldozed every attempt the home team presented them with.

“I’ve got to give the opposition a wrap, they're a good team, Wests,” Treleaven said.

“The Valleys and the Bears have to keep their heads up because I think Wests can give it a bit of a shake.” 

In the end, the Wests were the team who could convert their attacks into scores and will be going into the week another win stronger, with half Lana Sheedy taking home the Hastings Deering Player of the Match honours. 

Next week, the Valkyries will be traveling to Rockhampton to play the Capras.