Tweed sits alone at the top of the Coast-2-Coast Earthmoving Cup thanks to a 32-10 win over Tugun at Boyd Street.
The Seagulls raced to a 22-point lead shortly after halftime before tackling their way to victory in what was their fourth win from four appearances this season.
“I thought it was a pretty good effort today,” Seagulls coach Clint Barends said.
“There was a bit of drop ball but I thought it wasn’t a bad game; there was a fair bit of aggression out there. It’s always tough to win here at Tugun, so I’m pretty happy.
“We’ve been happy with our defence the last few weeks; the boys just keep turning up. We’re probably not as happy with the dropped balls and inviting teams back into the game, but I’m happy that they keep on turning up for each other.”
The game was evenly poised for the opening 20 minutes as both sides traded tries.
Zac O’Brien and Matt Parata both scored for the visitors while Keanu Te Kiri and Chris Hodges got the Seahawks on the board and held the scores level at 10-10.
From there, all of the points went to the Tweed. A Drew Radich bomb led to an Ali Grant try in the 27th minute while a length of the field run shortly thereafter to Shaun Anderson saw the Seagulls lead extend to 12 at the break.
The points kept coming after the break as quick hands from Grant led to Parata’s second and a Dom Speakman try out of dummy half saw the score blow out to 32-10 with 35 minutes to go.
It was a luckless afternoon for Tugun, but they dug in their heels and threw everything they could at the Tweed in an attempt to claw back the deficit.
Poor handling crept in or both teams, but Tweed continued to turn up when it mattered on their own line and refused to let Tugun in as they held on to a crucial win.
Tweed is now the only unbeaten team left in the competition and they are sole leaders after five rounds.
Coach Barends said the good start is a credit to how well his young team has adapted to big changes around them which led to the Tweed not fielding a reserve grade or under 19s team in this year’s competition.
“We’ve had massive changes at the club,” he said.
“I think we’ve used 24/25 players already. That’s just the way it is; it doesn’t matter who is there we’ve got to turn up and try to produce our best.
“As a young side a lot of the boys are playing their first year in the local A-Grade comp so it’s important we learn the importance of turning up and performing well each week.”
Barends also praised the efforts of his forward, in particular middle men Josh Harvey and Carlos Kohu-Martin, along with his outside backs who were key to their defence holding strong.
In other fifth round Coast-2-Coast Earthmoving Cup fixtures, Runaway Bay picked up their first win of the year 36-6 over Currumbin while Bilambil knocked over Southport 28-16.
TWEED HEADS SEAGULLS 32 (M Parata 2, Z O’Brien, A Grant, S Anderson, D Speakman tries Z O’Brien 3, D Radich goals) def TUGUN SEAHAWKS 10 (K Te Kiri, C Hodges tries S Harrold goal)
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