Northern Heat match is on!
Not even torrential rain and flooding can stop the Northern Heat match from going ahead tomorrow (Saturday 27 March)!
Originally scheduled to be played at Southport, the game was initially moved to south Brisbane on Wednesday, then when the ground there was closed it was moved to a north Brisbane venue on Thursday. Each change in venue has also come with a change in start time but the Heat squad have taken all of these, plus the extra travel, in their stride.
The match will now be played at 2:45pm (NSW time) on Saturday 27 March at South Pines Sports Complex. The venue has been a home ground for Brisbane Lions AFLW matches so is an elite facility, whilst the Heat match will be preceded by the VFL and East Coast League practice match between Southport Sharks and Aspley Hornets.
Paul Taylor, Community Football Manager, said that the commitment of the players and their families has been incredible. “Our last training session was postponed due to wet weather, then moved from Coffs to Armidale at very short notice. Now we’ve had multiple changes in the past 48 hours, which has meant further travel. The players and their families have shown great resilience in adapting to all of these changes and the end product of playing against quality opponents at an outstanding venue will make it all worth it.
“The Heat program runs through the off-season, requires the players to complete a personal strength and conditioning program, and involves major travel between North Coast and North West. The commitment that’s been made is incredible and they’ll see the reward on Saturday when they play the match in front of the coaches from Southport.”
Unfortunately, with all the changes it won’t be possible to live stream tomorrow’s match. A match summary will appear on the website on Monday.
All associated with the Northern Heat program extend their deepest thanks to the Southport Sharks club which has worked overtime to organise new venues to enable the match to go ahead.