Going into QClash15, the ruck duel between Jarrod Witts and Stefan Martin was going to play a big part in the result.
Having set some high standards for himself, Witts has admittedly been down on form of late but bounced back strongly against the Lions.
The SUNS narrowly edged Brisbane in hit-outs (34-30) and clearances (35-34), with the ruckman’s seven tackles and five clearances proving important.
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“I wasn’t too happy with how I played last week so I just wanted to respond,” WItts told SUNS TV.
“I think that’s the best way, just to attack the ball and try and make life a bit easier for the smaller guys around me.”
After going head-to-head with Martin for the majority of the game, and Witts clearly thrives on proving himself against one of the best ruckmen in the competition.
“He’s a super player and he’s just getting better with age so all credit to him, he’s going really well.
“It was good to test myself against him and he ran me around a bit, but it was awesome to challenge myself against him.
Brisbane came at the SUNS hard towards the end of the game but Witts was pleased with how the team were able to fight back and secure the win.
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“It’s awesome, it’s almost a bit of a relieving feeling at the end there when they were coming pretty hard, we just held on,”
“Credit to them (Brisbane), they fought pretty hard at the end there,
“I’m really, really proud of the guys and the way that they dug in at the end there and there was some massive contests to win us the game.”