It's hard to take too many positives out of a 49-24 drubbing, but the Maitland Blacks can take one giant one from Saturday’s loss to Merewether Carlton.
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Star forward Travis Brooke successfully completed the second half in his first game for Maitland this season in a successful return from injury.
“I guess the most pleasing part was Travis played the second half and made a successful return from injury so that’s a positive note and James Johnston also played 30 minutes, which was also good as well,” Blacks co-coach Ryan McCormack said.
“Physically and mentally Merewether wanted it. They were an extremely motivated side that kept coming and coming and coming.
“We’ll go back to the drawing board. That’s two losses in a row both by substantial amounts so we have to start over again and reset ourselves.”
The loss takes the Blacks season record to two wins and two losses, after meritorious wins to start the season against Southern Beaches and Wanderers, followed by a 44-19 loss to Hamilton.
A bonus point for scoring four tries on Saturday leaves the Blacks in fourth spot on 10 points and McCormack remains upbeat about their prospects.
“There was still some really good performances, Chris Logan was outstanding, John Birrell was strong, Nick Davidson was strong, Chris Martin played really well, Carl Manu had a target on his back every time he touched the ball,” he said.
“We’ve got the ability, we’ve got the skills but again just little things let us down today.
“We were pretty ill-disciplined, we had a few yellow cards, blokes dropping the ball in key moments of the game and our energy levels were nowhere near Merewether’s were.
“They are a very good side. When you put 10-plus phases together you are always going to wear down your opposition and score tries if you execute and they did.”
The score was 15-7 at half-time, but the Blacks had no answer to Merewether’s sheer weight of possession in the second half.
“We weren’t good enough today, but again it’s another learning curve for us,” McCormack said.
“It’s still early in the season and we’ve got next week off to go and visit what we need to do and where we want to be as a team.
“We’re coming up to a patch now when we are going to play Singleton, University, Lake Macquarie and Nelson Bay.
“We’ve essentially got to pick up and move on and put the last couple of weeks behind us and learn from it.
“It’s a challenge, but something our guys love is a challenge and they’ve definitely put themselves in a position to receive one. ”
The Blacks next game is at home against Singleton on May 19.
