Newcastle Northstars vs Central Coast Rhinos - 2 April

Quotes from Newcastle Northstars Head Coach Kevin Noble, Captain Liam Manwarring and Forward Daniel Berno about their win last weekend against the Central Coast Rhinos.

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Head Coach Kevin Noble

It is obviously good to win. I said to the guys, I thought both teams worked hard.

As a team we showed a lot of good things in tonights game. It was a great chance to see some of our younger guys and where they are at in their development.

It was just a really excellent opportunity to get to look at everybody. You know, now we have the preseason games behind us and we look ahead to Melbourne in two weeks, and it's gonna be a big, big task going down there.

There were a lot of things that we didi well tonight, and I liked our game tonight more than yesterday. Their urgency was excellent and we really looked like we were competing. There were a lot of details tonight that weren't there yesterday that we're getting to see, that we're going need in the regular season.

These games were a good opportunity to get some of the bad habits that players get over summer out of the game and start to focus back on our way of playing being detailed, strong systematically, getting our energy and pace back up a bit. It’s great to get some of the ugly habits out of our systems this weekend and set the tone for how we need to play for the remainder of the year.

Manwarring and Berno are big parts of our team and we are going to need them all year. We need them to be leaders and to help carry this group, and each of them getting a hat trick is a great reward for them. I thought they were excellent last year and to pick back where they left off is really great to see.

We were playing, and we were playing the right way and that’s the most important thing.

Captain Liam Manwarring

Last nights game was one of those first games, it is always tough going into a new season with new goals but tonight we definitely showed what kind of team we have got this year, and we are still missing half our roster. The young boys stepped up a lot and credit to our goaltending, I am so proud of how all three of our goalies stepped up this weekend.

Getting goals always feels good, and getting that first goal for the team is the best because you know it lifts the team. It doesn’t take just one guy out there and I am more focused on the team and credit to all the boys for my hat trick.

Looking forward to the season we are going to focus on our habits. Playing on different teams in a different league throughout the summer we can develop bad habits and now we focus on getting all the good habits back. It’s about the smart plays, setting little goals individually ad moving forward and building together as a team.

Forward – Daniel Berno

It always feels good to score, and getting a hattrick feels great especially when the boys played well and played hard all game. All that really matters is that you get the win, and it helps get us off to a good start for the season.

Getting our systems back intact and playing well with each other was great this weekend, but there is always room to improve. We have a long season to get better and better with each practice and game.