THE Wynnum Manly Seagulls have completed the fairytale they longed for and have taken out this year’s Intrust Super Cup grand final.
The Seagulls, who were the first team to make the grand final in the history of the Queensland Cup competition from sixth position, scored the only points of the second half to take out this year’s title 16-10.
For the Tweed Heads Seagulls, it was a heart-breaking result after they dominated the competition for most of the year – losing only the one game in the regular season.
However, the team that stunned them in the semi-final - the Wynnum Manly Seagulls - were able to do it all again to claim their first premiership win since their 1995 Brisbane Rugby League triumph.
It was the Tweed Heads Seagulls who took a slim 10-6 lead into halftime after an absorbing first half of football.
The southernmost Seagulls were the first on the scoreboard when Tim Maccan did what he does best, darting over from dummy half.
The next however, was created when skipper Brad Davis dummied to put the Wynnum defenders on the back foot before passing to Cody Nelson who ran in under the posts.
The latter stages of the half though belonged to Wynnum Manly who peppered the Tweed right side defence with high kicks.
A simple error 29 seconds from half-time gave Wynnum their best chance, and it was taken, with Jake Granville scoring off a Matt Seamark kick from the resulting scrum.
The second half saw the Wynnum Manly side take the lead - with a kick from Reece Blayney grabbed after an awkward bounce by Seamark in the in-goal area.
It was an important try, as the rest of the half was punctuated with grinding defence and errors in front of the goal line.
But after Tweed were ruled to be offside, Wynnum Manly made the most of the advantage with Shea Moylan crossing in the left-hand corner with only minutes left on the clock after a great run from Blayney.
Given how difficult it was to score points in the half, it was too much for Tweed Heads to overcome, despite trying up to the last minute.
A good ball from Davis was caught by speedster Nathanael Barnes who kicked ahead, but the ball went out, and with it, their chances of stealing a win.
This year’s Qantas Player of the Year Jake Granville was also named man of the match following his sterling efforts in both attack and defence for Wynnum Manly.
WYNNUM MANLY SEAGULLS 16 (Jake Granville, Shea Moylan, Matt Seamark tries; Matt Seamark 2 goals) def TWEED HEADS SEAGULLS 10 (Cody Nelson, Tim Maccan tries; Brad Davis goal) at Suncorp Stadium.
Duncan Hall Medal: Jake Granville (Wynnum Manly)