Reds captain James Slipper says they won't be getting down in the dumps over yet another run of poor injury luck.
The past two seasons have been injury carnage for Queensland and their luck has turned again in recent weeks, with backrower Jake Schatz and new recruit Caleb Timu both ruled out with long-term injuries.
They started this season without Slipper and star flanker Liam Gill, before these latest two blows.
Slipper said it wasn’t much use focusing on the team’s poor fortune with injury.
“You’ve got to keep your head up and keep pushing forward,” he said.
“In rugby, these things happen.
“You never know what’s around the corner and injuries are a part of any sport. We’ve kind of gone through a run of them last year and this year.
“It’s nothing to do with what we’re trying to do. We’re looking to improve and get a win here in front of our home fans.”
While coping with injury is commonplace for the Reds, heading into a match as bookies’ favourites is more unusual.
Slipper said that status wouldn’t change their mentality against the Cheetahs.
“They’re very powerful up front, they’ve got very quick speedsters out wide who can score tries from anywhere on the field,” he said.
“It sets up to be a good game. Both teams like to play the ball and score tries and we’re excited by that.”
The key for the Reds in living up to their billing is making sure their bench has an impact, after fading badly in their two matches in South Africa, Slipper said.
“In this sport it’s all about results, all about wins and losses and we understand that,” he said.
“We haven’t been good enough. It’s a common thread for us, we play quite well for 60 minutes and then the last 20 minutes we really let the team off the hook.
“Something we’ve been trying to address through training, we’ve been working hard through training.”
The Reds will host the Cheetahs on Saturday night at 7:45pm LIVE on FOXSPORTS.
