Source: West Australian

There was no lack of courage but the Reds were their own biggest enemy in a hard fought 28 - 36 defeat last night at the WAR ZONE. The visiting Windsor Wolves, who were one position above the Reds in third spot on the ladder, profited mightily from Reds errors scoring 4 of their 6 tries off Reds mistakes.

The Reds were first across the line when captain Shayne McMenemy finished off a 95 metre set and a Craig Phillis break sent in Mick Kestell, but poor tacking, passing and a lapse in defence enabled the Wolves to score four tries before half time a 24 – 12 lead.

Ineffectual tacking allowed the Wolves to recycle the ball until Ryan Russell found a defensive hole to score and wing Tim Hala extended the visitors lead with a well worked try wide out.

A bad pass gave Wolves five eighth Ben Harden a gift intercept try and Russell scored another soft try just before the interval when the Reds’ Sio Mailangi inexplicably turned his back on the play.

The Wolves extended their lead when Tim Hala scored his second try soon after the restart but the Reds rallied through four pointers to Phillis and Jason Godecke, the latter swooping on a McMenemy chip kick to sprint to the try line.

The Reds have lapsed and then rallied in their last three wins showing tremendous courage to claw back lost ground but last night it just wasn’t enough against one the competitions best teams.

The loss dropped the Reds to 3 and 3 for the season while the Wolves fifth consecutive win improved their record to 5 & 1. Great signs for the Reds are their endurance, which would be equal to any team in the competition, and their obvious latent talent which is still nowhere near fully tapped.

Fans should remember that this is anew team still finding its structure and we should all be proud that they have exceeded to date, every expectation except their own.

Next week the Reds travel to meet the top ranking Sydney Bulls in what will be their toughest test to date.

Attendance 1714