The
script at the Townsville Opens called for Darling Downs to stay
alive in the major
championship so they might send off their retiring coach of 24
years, Ray Pendrigh,
on a winning note. But eventual championship finalists Metro
North did not see it
this way on day one, and inflicted a heavy loss on Ray’s
boys, relegating
them to ninth ranking and the Consolation rounds.
However after this initial setback Downs dug deep, winning their
next three
games each by about twenty points to claim the Consolation
Trophy.
For Ray Pendrigh, his 24th and final championship as coach of the
Darling Downs'
open schoolboys ended without fanfare. His QSSRL colleagues
state-wide will
honour his long service in due course, but he summed up his
approach to
nurturing youth through rugby league in typically modest fashion:
"that's not why you do it (for praise) .... you do it for
the kids".
