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‘Starting to find my feet’: Jock Campbell ‘excited’ as Reds find form
By AAP
Jock Campbell's season has gone a bit like the Queensland Reds' but the understated back thinks he and the team are now finally finding their feet.
An ankle injury kept the Test fullback out of the Reds' season-opener and, after making his Wallabies debut on last year's European tour, he finds himself on the outer in a World Cup year.
Patrolling the backline with fellow winger or fullback Jordan Petaia, Campbell says he is finding form just as the Reds have rediscovered some sparkle.
Back-to-back wins have come since a mid-season bye Campbell rated as a crucial juncture in a stalling season that will be departing coach Brad Thorn's last in charge.
"I'm starting to find my feet now, and as a team we're in the same position," he said.
"It was a positive review (of last weekend's win over the Western Force) compared to some we've done this year.
"(During the bye week) we looked at our game honestly and it wasn't good enough in a number of areas.
"It's all to play for now. We're excited."
The Reds are sixth and will meet traditional rivals the Waratahs (seventh) in Townsville on Saturday, with Campbell's sister Tina featuring for Queensland in the same day's Super W final against Fijiana Drua.
"Much like us, the Waratahs are not where they want to be and this is a big game in respect to the season and general rivalry," Jock Campbell said.
The Reds women came from behind to beat the ACT Brumbies last time out and lock in their decisive clash with the defending champions, who upset the undefeated NSW Waratahs to book their spot.
"It was funny, we were in the sheds about to run out and someone told us they won," Tina Campbell said.
"We were all a bit shocked.
"The key against Fiji will be to shut down their offloads and don't put the ball in their hands. So possession will be key ... and this year we have the belief we can win."
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Latest Comments
You’ve got to look forward to next weekend more than anything too.
They really use this sorta system? Much smaller pool of bonus points available, that would mean they have far less impact. Interestingly you must be withen winning range/chance in France’s Top 14 league, rather that just draw territory, so 6 points instead of 7. Fairly arbitrary and pointless (something the NRL would do to try and look cool), but kinda cool.
I said it Nick’s and other articles, I’m not sure about the fixed nature of matchups in these opening rounds. For instance, I would be interested in seeing an improved ranking/prediction/reflection ladder to what we had last year, were some author here game so rejigged list of teams purely based of ‘who had played who’ so far in the competition. It was designed to analyze the ladder and better predict what the real order would be after the full round robin had completed. It needed some improvement, like factoring in historical data as well, as it was a bit skiwif, but it is the sort of thing that would give a better depiction of what sort of contests weve had so far, because just using my intuition, the matchups have been very ‘level appropriate’ so far, and were jet to get the other end of the spectrum, season ranked bottom sides v top sides etc.
Go to commentsAs a former rugby player, I spent 20 years as a specialist tackling coach in the AFL, SANFL, and Southern Football League. During this time, I was fortunate to be part of teams winning seven premierships. I believe there is a valuable place for cross-code coaching in these sports. I made many lifelong friends and enjoyed sharing knowledge and skills from different sporting backgrounds, which is encouraged at many elite levels.
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