FIRST-year Rosewood Roosters C-Grade coach Scott McTaggart has experienced a mix of emotions and challenges returning to the club.
“It’s been interesting – up and down,” McTaggart said.
“We have some good players, just don’t seem to be able to put it on the field [consistently]. That’s pretty much the most frustrating thing.”
Rosewood’s most recent win over Laidley 12-10 showed what the team is capable of, following on from an earlier 46-4 victory over West End.
The Roosters also came from 20-6 down to draw 20-all with Swifts in their latest match at Anzac Park.
Former five-eight halfback McTaggart is working with his players as they look to build on recent wins in the Rugby League Ipswich C-Grade competition.
“The boys enjoy coming to training,” he said. “We’re still getting good numbers.
“I’m pretty happy with them all as far as individuals go. It’s just being able to put it together as a team.”
That’s the challenge for the Roosters – taking training drills into game situations.
“There’s a lot of good talented players in the team and we see it every week at training,” McTaggart said.
“But when we get on the field, there’s no cohesion and the team just can’t seem to be able to do what we do at training or do what we planned to do at training.
“There’s probably a lot of boys, that being in C-Grade footy, haven’t played together before.”
McTaggart said the Roosters “played slightly to our potential” in their defence-led win over Laidley at Anzac Park.
“That pays off because some of the games prior to that, we should have won the games easily but we just weren’t able to put down the performance on the field,” he said.
In the victory against West End at Daniels Park, the Roosters “just held the ball a bit more and muscled up in the middle”.
The Roosters have been captained by hooker Jerara Semple in recent matches.
Semple took over from original leader James Harlow when he suffered an injury.
The team’s leading try scorers have been winger Zac Collins and centre Brendon Hurst with goalkicker-lock Jasper Strong the top point scorer.
McTaggart welcomed halfback Jake Ranse back to the club after he started the pre-season before working in Western Australia.
Experienced Rea brothers Steven and Caleb have also made an impact off the bench in the forwards.
“We’re gaining new players each week,” McTaggart said, in a positive sign for the team’s future development.
McTaggart moved to Rosewood in 2009, playing C Grade and Reserve Grade for the club before taking on the coaching role this season.
He previously guided junior sides including an under-8 team with featured current C-Grade player Cody Adams.
As McTaggart coaches Adams again in senior football, Cody is now coaching Scott’s son Alfie in this year’s Rosewood under-13 team.
“So it’s turned in a full circle really,” the C-Grade mentor said, highlighting Rosewood’s strong family connections.
With the C-Grade season well advanced, McTaggart sees more opportunities for the Roosters to claw ahead in the 10-team competition.
That includes Saturday’s match against Brisbane Valley at Laidley before the Roosters’ next home game against the Fassifern Bombers on July 15.
