THE depleted Macquarie Scorpions lost 34-14 to competition leaders Lakes United on Sunday, relegating the defending premiers to last on the Newcastle rugby league ladder.
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It was the Scorpions’ sixth consecutive loss, and the team now faces a challenge just to qualify for the semi-final series.
Macquarie took to the field at Cahill Oval minus another trio of wounded players – Nathan Cantor, Daniel Abraham and Adam Swadling – who were injured playing against Wests the previous week.
The growing list of injured and sidelined Scorpions is a concern for the club.
Coach Adam Bettridge said he expected Nathan Cantor to return for the game against Central Newcastle at Lyall Peacock Field this Saturday.
Swadling and Abraham, however, could be out for a couple more weeks.
“We have had a shocking year with injuries but we will get most of our injured players back in the next few weeks,” Bettridge said.
“The problem is we need to start winning games to keep us in the hunt for the semi-finals while we are waiting for some players to return to the field.
“With only seven games remaining we will need to win five of those seven games to ensure ourselves a shot in the finals and, if we can make it, I am sure that with the players we have in the squad we will be more than competitive in defending the title we won last year.”
We need to start winning games to keep us in the hunt for the semi-finals while we are waiting for some players to return to the field.
- - Adam Bettridge
Bettridge said that despite recent losses, there were signs his team could stop the rot.
“I have seen improvement from the squad in the last two weeks, against Western Suburbs and Lakes, to have confidence that a win is not far off and, if we can get that first one, we can go on with it,” he said.
Lakes led 18-nil against Macquarie after 30 minutes.
“But we fought back to go into halftime 18-6 down. We were starting to get into the grind,” Bettridge said.
“In the second half we scored two further tries to be behind 18-14 with only 10 minutes remaining and we were very strong.
“But a penalty against the run of play allowed Lakes to wrest back the momentum and they scored out wide to lead 22-14 and, from there, we did not get the ball back in the last six minutes and they were able to get away with the win.”
Bettridge said the effort was evident from his men.
“I was very pleased with the commitment of the players and we were very strong for most of the game, but we need to start to defend our errors,” he said.
In other Round 9 results: Maitland downed Cessnock 22-16; Wests pipped Central Newcaste 13-12; and Souths swamped Kurri Kurri 32-12.
The Scorpions will take on Central Newcastle at Lyall Peacock Field, Toronto, this Saturday, at 3pm.
Ladder: Lakes 12, Souths 10, Maitland 10, Wests 10, Central 8, Kurri 8, Cessnock 6, Macquarie 6.
