By MARK CASHMAN

He wasn’t exactly kicking the cat but you could feel the frustration in Hunter Wildfires coach Scott ‘Bubba’ Coleman voice when Rugby News spoke to him in the wake of their 43-29 loss to Eastern Suburbs on Sunday.

The Wildfires led the Beasties for larges slices of this Shute Shield encounter at the Newcastle No.2 Sports Ground, but in the end the result and much of the performance summed up where they are it at the moment.

They are moving in the right direction but the patience and bloody mindedness needed to win at this level were not quite there when the game was in the balance.

The Wildfires led 10-0 early in this one through a penalty goal to Nat De Thierry and a converted try to Jayden Wright but then they let the Beasties take the high ground and conceded four tries.

They then hit back just before the break with a couple of tries to De Thierry and at one stage just before the break stormed to a 22-21 lead.

That was short lived though and the Beasties got their nose in front through a try to to the lively Blake Rixon on the left edge.

Every metre on both sides of the ball were keenly contested but a yellow card to De Thierry, who worked well at No.10, tipped things in the way of the visiting side.

“We’re definitely getting closer but as a team and as a squad we are not really happy with that. We don’t want to just compete in this competition,” Wildfires coach Coleman said.

“There’s a fair bit of disappointment there (the morning after) but each week we are getting a step closer.

“It’s just competing for the full 80 minutes – we are in games for 10 minutes but then we just seem to drift out of games.

“It’s all about patience with the ball and just a whole lot of little things that we need to nail down.

“The team cohesion is there now and we are getting better and better each week.

“When we can hold the ball for six plus phases we are quite dangerous and there are many defence es that can hold us out.”

The danger men for the Wildfires have been lock Joe Timani and No.6 Olajuwon Noa, who joined the Wildfires this year from Melbourne club footy.

They were bright spots on the Family Day that the Wildfires run at their fantastic venue in the middle of Newcastle.

Timani made oodles of metres with his vigorous hole running whole Noa, who has played all over the world, worked hard in defence and carried hard for most of the game.

Easts coach Pauli Taumoepeau was happy to come away from the road trip with a bonus point win.

“It’s always tough up the highway,” Taumoepeau said.

“We went in this game knowing we’d have to work hard for a win and the tough meters of the game didn’t come as a surprise.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for the Wildfires and what they’re doing.

“Rohan (Siafoloi) controlled field position well for us and I thought Dean (Oakman-Hunt) was huge again, he’s doing some great things.”

This was the first game that the Wildfires played on the Sunday and it seems like the way forward for the franchise.

Easts have been the only club that has agreed to play them on a Sunday which is a real shame and an impediment to getting their club bedded down in the Hunter.

The Newcastle club competition is still alive, kicking and very tribal and that makes playing on a Saturday problematic. Even a later kickoff would help matters.

The Wildfires numbers still need some work and it is hard to get volunteers to do the “shitters” when the link to local club footy is still so strong.

A bright spot for the home side on the day was the 30-29 win for the reserve grade side over the third placed Beasties.

IMAGE: STEWART HAZEL