The Southport Tigers threw down the gauntlet to the rest of the Coast-2-Coast Bycroft Cup with a 50-16 win over the Tweed Heads Seagulls on Sunday.
Tweed were in third spot coming into the game and are a genuine semi-final team, but Southport blew them off Owen Park and once again proved why they will be incredibly difficult to stop this September.
“We were dominant from the first minute until the 80th minute. We scored some good tries, our defence was good; I’m really proud of them,” Tigers coach Steve Dowd said.
“Today was important for us because unless we get belted in the next three games, it virtually cements us first or second spot.
“We’ve got some hard games to come, we’ll take it week-to-week, we’ll fix our injuries and we’ll go from there. We’ve very excited about the next six weeks.”
Leading the way for the Tigers was halfback Drumayne Dayberg-Muir who produced an incredible attacking display.
He had a major hand in Southport’s first five tries before scoring two of his own in the second half.
Dayberg-Muir has been a mainstay at the Tigers over the years and has starred for them playing at fullback on many occasions.
Now playing with a seven on his back, he helps make up a formidable Southport spine alongside Mick Davis (fullback), Jeremy Golf (five-eighth) and Mick Esdale (hooker).
“Drumayne was super. He’s just a class footballer,” Dowd said.
“He’s played fullback over the years, now he’s playing halfback which is new for him, but he’s getting better each week and come the semi-finals he will be good to watch.”
Other stand outs on the day included Aaron Enoka, who played a huge role in establishing Southport’s physical dominance, and reigning Gold Coast-Tweed Rugby League player of the year Tim Cannard.
As a result of the win Southport remain in second place, just one point behind the Burleigh Bears, while Tweed’s loss sees them slip to fourth with defending champs Tugun moving into third.
In other round 14 Coast-2-Coast Bycroft Cup results, the Tugun Seahawks knocked off Runaway Bay 28-20, Burleigh were too good for Bilambil 38-20 and Currumbin came from behind to defeat Cudgen 16-14.
SOUTHPORT TIGERS 50 (D. Dayberg-Muir 2, W. Waenga 2, M. Davis, T. Studer, J. Golf, T. Cannard, J. Barker tries M. Davis 7 goals) def TWEED HEADS SEAGULLS 16 (D. Kelly, S. Gillett, C. Fleming tries B. Ghosn 2 goals) at Owen Park
