Men's Elite Eight Preview

10 Mar 2015 by Michael Gosman

Queensland Country Outlaws stunned everybody last year when they went all the way to claim the Men’s Elite Eight title at the National Touch League.

They started the 2014 campaign with three draws before finding their rhythm and knocking off the 2013 finalists New South Wales Mets (12-9) in the semis and defending premiers New South Wales Country Mavericks (7-4) in the final.

Twelve months later, the Outlaws are Queensland’s strongest team on paper with Australia men’s opens players Dan Withers and Michael Law, along with Jayden Benbow, Shaun Francis, and Cormac and Lachlan Hoch – this is a very strong team and there are high expectations.

Threatening Outlaws’ title defence will be Mavericks.

Despite missing the injured Dylan Hennessey, the 2013 champs still have a quality side with Scott Bundy, Matt Tope, Terry Deegan and Dylan Thompson wearing the yellow and maroon colours.

The Mets lack a bit of strike power but the word is – discard them at your peril.

Missing the Good brothers, Ben Moylan, Scott Buckley and Dean Springfield are big losses but they still have the experience of Steve Roberts and Anthony Ziade.

The teams to watch out for are New South Wales Scorpions and Queensland South Stingrays.

Scorpions had a disappointing campaign last year – winning one of their seven matches – but most of them were inexperienced players.

Last year would have done them the world of good and with the likes of Sam Brisby, Simon Lang and Jonathon Palau growing in confidence, the Scorpions could pull a few punches.

It’s a similar case for the Stingrays who made the semi-finals last year, only to lose by one touchdown to Outlaws.

They have a mixture of youth and experience, and Nathan Jones is the right person to be leading them into battle.

Queensland Chiefs, The Alliance and New South Wales Rebels have been there or thereabouts for the past few seasons, and even though they may not have a strong team on paper, they will cause a few headaches for the main teams.