Hills was not a happy man after his charges went down to Lauderdale in their season-opener on Good Friday saying his better players failed to stand up and the groups’ mental approach was ordinary.

The Storm lost a game Hills expected them to win by 11 points and the players will have plenty of time to reflect on that this week as they prepare for a cross-town rivalry match-up against Launceston.

‘‘I think we are going to be a contender this season for sure and to let games slip because of poor attitude is really unprofessional and it is going to come back and sting you when it counts at the end of the year,’’ Hills said.

‘‘ I was thoroughly disappointed and we need to make amends quickly and we have Lonnie next week and I think they had a good game so they are going to be hard to beat as well.

‘‘We have our work cut out and our guys are going to have to have a good long look at themselves during the week and come with a much better mindset next week.’’

In contrast the Blues impressed with their final quarter comeback against North Launceston storming home to erase a 36-point deficit before going down by a point.

Launceston coach Scott Stephens will be looking for a repeat performance of that team effort and defensive pressure against the Storm.

‘‘We can take a lot from the (North) game but at the end of the day we have to be disappointed because we didn’t get what we were after,’’ he said.

‘‘But we showed our supporters and the opposition that we have come a long way in the last six months and we need to continue to work on that and consistency of effort week in and out is what I will be hammering home to them.

‘‘Playing one and two from last year in the first two rounds is excellent for us and exactly what I want so we know where we sit after two weeks and you have two sides who lost round 1 on the rebound.’’

The Blues had injury concerns out of the game with Joe Boyce receiving a bad corkie to the hip and Casey Reissig stretchered off in the final quarter with what seemed to be a hyper-extension of the leg.

North Launceston will have Chris Tarrant available for his first game of the season when it meets Burnie in what should be another great contest on Saturday night at Aurora Stadium.

The Bombers had five debutants in round 1 including 17-year-old Marcus Haley.

‘‘Burnie will be another big challenge and are never easy but we get Chris into the group to help straighten the group up and we will learn from our first game,’’ coach Zane Littlejohn said.

North will assess Allan O’Sign after he suffered a calf injury against the Blues.