Wynnum Manly Seagulls’ ferocious forward pack powered over Tweed Heads Seagulls with a 32-4 victory at TJ O’Neill Oval in Kingaroy.
Round 23 was Get in the Game Country Week for the Intrust Super Cup and ‘The Battle of the Seagulls’ rounded out a wonderful gala of rugby league in the bush.
A lot of physicality was displayed by both sides as the large Kingaroy crowd enjoyed watching two sides desperate to secure a finals berth.
Jon Buchanan’s men dominated the first half with ruthless effectiveness in their sets, leading 20-0 at the break. Rugged back-rower John Grieve scored a double whilst Tweed Heads had a frustrating day as two players spent time in the sin bin.
Wynnum Manly’s recent victories have come on the back of simple yet powerful forward play in the middle of the park. At Kingaroy, Jon Grieve, Tim Natusch and XXXX man of the match Tanu Wulf led the visitors’ go-forward and put their side on top of the opposition.
Grieve showed great strength with his carries early in the game, regularly bending the defensive line backwards. The opening try of the game saw the back-rower drag five defenders with him as he planted the ball down.
His brother Matt was the second scorer of the afternoon when he crossed against the run of play. Tweed had run the ball on the last however after one offload too many, Grieve scooped up the loose ball to run 60m for the try.
In the ensuing set of six, Wynnum Manly went 100m for Brisbane Bronco Jordan Kahu to score and put the visitors up 18-0 early in the match.
Front rowers Natusch and Wulf alternated pounding hit ups to put Wynnum Manly over half way, centre Mitchell Buckett then palmed his way into open space and found his winger for the putdown.
Late in the second half Tweed Heads were making inroads into the Wynnum Manly defensive line and Pele Peletelese came fingertips close to offloading for a try but the visitors held on.
Matt Seamark converted a penalty to have the visitors in front 20-0 at half time.
Early in the second half Wynnum Manly were pressing on Tweed Heads line when interchange back rower Trent Richardson committed an ill thought professional foul. The referee was left with no choice but to sit him on the sideline 10 ten minutes.
The visitors were able capitalise on their personnel advantage when Jon Grieve barged through the Tweed defence and slammed the ball down for his second try. The back-rower’s immense core strength makes him such a difficult player to handle close to the line.
In the 60th minute Tweed Heads captain Matt King failed to heed the warnings from the referee and was sin binned.
Tweed Heads were finally able to put some points on the board when Reg Saunders was stripped in the act of scoring however it fortunately fell to his team mate Ayden Lee who scored.
Fittingly it was Wulf who finished the game for Wynnum Manly with a bust up the middle on his 20th carry of the game to score right of the posts. The video referee overturned a no try on-field decision to allow the XXXX man of the match to cap a memorable day with a try.
Country Week has been a great success as the Queensland Government and QRL joined together to promote sport and fitness through rugby league in regional Queensland.
The State Minister for Recreation and Sport, Hon. Steve Dickson was at Kingaroy to celebrate the occasion and promote the ‘Get in the Game’ policy which is helping thousands of disadvantaged Australians live fit and healthy lifestyles.
For more information on the policy, go to www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/getinthegame.
WYNNUM MANLY SEAGULLS 32 (Jon Grieve 2, Matt Grieve, Jordan Kahu, Tanu Wulf tries; Matthew Seamark 6 goals) def TWEED HEADS SEAGULLS 4 (Ayden Lee try) at T.J. O’Neill Oval, Kingaroy.
Final teams
Tweed Heads Seagulls: 1. Jamal Fogarty 2/19. Tom Merritt 3. Luke Dumas 4. James Wood (c) 18. Tom Kingston 6/20. Sam Irwin 7. Michael Burgess 8. Reg Saunders 9. Matt King (c) 10. Damian Sironen 11. Cory Blair 12. Ayden Lee 13. Sam Saville 14. Ricardo Parata 15. Trent Richardson 16. Caleb Binge 17. Pele Peletelese
Wynnum Manly Seagulls: 1. Daniel Ogden 2. Peter Gubb 3. Matt Grieve 4. Mitchell Buckett 5. Jordan Kahu 6/18. Ben Cronin 7. Matthew Seamark 8. Tanu Wulf 9. Lachlan Bristow 10. Timothy Natusch (c) 11. Jon Grieve 12. Billy Solah 13. Mitchell Frei 14. John Te Reo 15. Saia Makisi 16. Chris McLean 17. Dylan Smith
