WAYNE'S NORTH-WEST FAREWELL
One
of the real high points of the Kingaroy carnival came on the
last day, when perennial wooden spooners North West had their
first
win in three years at a state carnival. The only sad aspect was
that
they had to beat another battler, South West, to do it.
The win provided a nice send-off for enduring coach Wayne Adams,
who soon after the carnival transferred from Richmond Secondary
in
the north west, to Benoa High School on the Gold Coast.
Anyone who has travelled any distance on an interstate coach
would
sympathise with Wayne, his police sergeant manager Peter Wilson
and
their team. To reach Kingaroy most of them endured around 30
hours
on a bus. In Wayne’s case it was more like 36 hours.
Their only training run was for an hour when they made a pit-stop
at
Toowoomba. With 900 kilometres separating the Longreach and Mt
Isa
contingents, opportunities for getting together are virtually
unheard of.
But for Wayne, Peter and team the tyranny of distance was par for
the
course. They realised for most of them this carnival was the
highest level
at which they would ever play. And they lapped it up.
A couple of hidings notwithstanding,
for four days at Kingaroy the Adams’ family walked tall.
by
Milton Bristow