Bears centre Corbin Kiernan crossed for five tries as Burleigh thrashed Tweed Heads Seagulls 58-0 at Pizzey Park on Sunday.
Kiernan has been in sensational form lately, having scored 11 tries down Burleigh’s left edge in the last four games.
His form has been so good that Bears coach Matt Foster believes Kiernan is in line for a call up to the next level in the near future.
“He’s a pleasure to watch,” he said.
“His speed, his footwork, his strength; he’s got everything, in my opinion, that he needs to be a Queensland Cup player.
“I’m very, very confident that he will be a regular Burleigh Bears Q Cup player next year, maybe even the back end of this year.”
It was a remarkable display from the Bears who dismantled the third placed Tweed Seagulls en route to their 11th consecutive win.
In addition to Kiernan’s five, Waka Wanahi grabbed a double, Jamie Anderson, Jacob Grant and Tom Rowles all went over and big Francis Veukiso also scored an incredible solo try.
In the 58th minute, Veukiso charged onto the ball 20 metres out from the line and was simply unstoppable as he knocked over countless defenders to score under the posts in an astounding display of size and power.
While the Bears were scintillating in attack, they also defended their line with aplomb and won plenty of plaudits from the coach.
“I’m super happy today. I was a little bit critical last week in some aspects of our game, but this week I asked for a full blooded, whole hearted performance and the boys delivered 100% on that,” Foster said.
“As a coach, we love zeros, and that was a big one for us. It just shows the desire and a will to win.
“Even if you’re winning games comfortably there’s a mental attitude that people need to apply to be professional and not to accept anything less than the best that they can give.
It has been a dominant season from Burleigh who wrapped up the minor premiership a couple of weeks ago.
They head into the semi-finals with all the momentum and are heavy favourites to take out the title, but Foster is still keeping his team grounded and focused on improving week-to-week.
“I challenge them to challenge themselves,” he said.
“Sometimes it’s not about the outcome on the field, although that is important.
“The individuals themselves have got their own careers to think about, they’ve got progression through Burleigh Bears and progression through wherever they may be heading to think about, and if they’re not performing and just worrying about just getting through wins they’re not going to perform and reach those heights that I know a lot of them are capable of getting to.”
Elsewhere in the 16th round of the Coast-2-Coast Earthmoving Cup Runaway Bay returned to winning form with a 52-28 win over the Southport Tigers while the Tugun Seahawks outlasted Bilambil Jets 24-18.
Coast-2-Coast Earthmoving Cup Round 16 Results
BURLEIGH BEARS 58 (Corbin Kiernan 5, Waka Wanahi 2, Jamie Anderson, Jacob Grant, Francis Veukiso, Tom Rowles tries Dan Kerr 5, Waka Wanahi 2 goals) def TWEED HEADS SEAGULLS 0
TUGUN SEAHAWKS 24 (Joel Sykes 2, Corey Morris, Nick Harrold tries Grayson TeKiri 4 goals) def BILAMBIL JETS 18 (Dion Belford, Seb Davies, Mitch Spackman tries Nic Burns 3 goals)
RUNAWAY BAY SEAGULLS 52 (Josh Ralph 2, Ethan Gallop, Gene Ropoama, Luke Lavell, Peta Simmonds, Vili Tuli, Neil Muller, Andrew Battese tries Preston Campbell 8 goals) def SOUTHPORT TIGERS 28 (Nathan Wilson 3, Tawhiao Rogers, Regan Muir-Olle, Remus Gentless tries Remus Gentless 2 goals)
CURRUMBIN EAGLES, bye
