Saturday night football came to BMD Kougari Oval as the Wynnum Manly Seagulls hosted the winless Sunshine Coast Falcons.
Despite positive early signs from the visitors, Wynnum convincingly put them away 36-0 to leave the Falcons still searching for a win.
Wynnum had not featured in night football at home for some time, but due to the Seagulls playing away at Rockhampton this Thursday night in round 8, the match was brought forward a day to allow the players adequate rest.
Wynnum were relentless in the middle of the field with their big forwards hitting back behind the ruck and wearing the visitors down. Captain Tim Natusch and lock Tanu Wulf were strong and ran with real purpose.
Whilst Sunshine Coast held on early, there were telling signs that they would tire at the back end of the game.
Prop Ben Shea opened the scoring with a short bust over the line from a nice ruck play by Brisbane Bronco Jake Granville. He was joined on the scoring sheet not long after by fellow front rower Saia Makisi, who hit a big hole under the posts to score untouched.
Granville was dangerous all game and he set up Ben Cronin just before half time. The Wynnum formula was simple, roll forward with their big pack, tire the Falcons forwards and generate quick play the balls.
This allowed the Bronco rake to play havoc around the ruck by scooting against a broken line. In Cronin's try he did just that, with a sharp dart from dummy half and drawing the fullback for Cronin to score under the posts. Wynnum led 18-0 at half time.
The second half played out very similarly to the first half and the Falcons were getting frustrated. The visitors were hurting themselves by giving away critical penalties as Wynnum were exiting their red zone.
Granville continued to show his NRL quality and was instrumental in Daniel Ogden scoring shortly after the break.
Another penetrating run with Falcons players hanging off him saw the hooker break through the line to set up Ogden who finished the try. Mathew Seamark and Ogden again would also add scores, as Wynnum continued the Falcons' winless streak with a 36-0 victory.
WYNNUM MANLY SEAGULLS 36 (Daniel Ogden 2, Ben Cronin, Matt Seamark, Ben Shea, Saia Makisi tries; Matt Seamark 6 goals) def SUNSHINE COAST FALCONS 0 at BMD Kougari Oval.
Final Teams - * Late change
Wynnum Manly Seagulls: 1. Daniel Ogden 2. Peter Gubb 3. Mitchell Buckett 4. Jason Moon 5. Mitchell Krause 6. Ben Cronin 7. Matt Seamark 8. Ben Shea 9. Jake Granville 10. Tim Natusch (c) 11. *Saia Makisi 12. John Te Reo 13. Mitchell Frei 14. Graham Clark 15. Stephen Coombe 16. Tanu Wulf 17. Dylan Smith
Sunshine Coast Falcons: 1. Kyle Van Klaveren 2. Joe Meninga 3. Rowan Klein 4. Callum Klein 5. Rueben Baillie 6. Brett Doherty 7. Jay Lobwein 8. Mboya Adams 9. *Max Fesolai 10. Ryan Hansen (c) 11. Jaz Nahu-Main 12. Jacob Samoa 13. Luke Blumke 14. Beau Walker 15. Matt Gilliman 16. *John Filipo 18. Stephen Tunnicliffe
