Round 3 Sunday wrap: Burleigh show defensive grit in win over Redcliffe
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A determination to avoid a repeat of their Round 1 performance has seen the Burleigh Bears claim a clinical 36-10 victory over the Redcliffe Dolphins to close out Round 3.
Fresh off a bye week, the Bears made quite the statement at their home ground UAA Park on Sunday afternoon, allowing the Dolphins to only score two late tries in the second half, in wet conditions.
While they showed plenty of intensity and flash in attack, it was their defence that Burleigh prided themselves on after the match, with hooker Pat Politoni admitting that was the big focus this week.
After leaking 24 points to Norths in their Round 1 win, the Bears were determined to not make the same mistakes.
Match: Bears v Dolphins
Round 3 -
home Team
Bears
2nd Position
away Team
Dolphins
12th Position
Venue: UAA Park, Gold Coast
“It’s always a tough performance against Redcliffe but we stood up early,” Politoni said.
“What we wanted to do was really focus on our defence. We let in a bit too many points against Norths in Round 1 so there was a big emphasis on us having real steel in D.
“Redcliffe are known for having big forwards, going forward and scoring easy points. We hung tough, especially late there losing a couple of players. We did a great job there. They have a lot of quality players but we did hold on.”
Politoni was outstanding in his side’s victory, which was a true team effort, with players standing up across the park, especially as injuries hit.
Five-eighth Tyrone Roberts helped set up the first two tries to skipper Sami Sauiluma and forward Jacob Alick, but then came off after 15 minutes with a shoulder injury.
Young fullback Keano Kini then came off in the second half after copping a boot to his stomach while Sauiluma injured his leg late in the match – but still made a try-saving tackle before coming from the field.
Politoni was full of praise for his team.
“Our halfback (Guy Hamilton) had an outstanding year last year and we were very, very fortunate to get him back at Burleigh,” he said.
“Our skipper is always putting in great efforts. Monday nights at training he can’t even walk, I don’t know how he does it on the weekend. He’s the toughest bloke I’ve ever met.
“And (Sam) Coster is our leader in the middle and is very, very consistent and brings all our energy for us.
“We always want to be competitive and focus on ourselves and the key points we want to be good at. We’re very, very happy, especially winning at home. We want to create a fortress here.”
Redcliffe meanwhile are still on the hunt for their first win after their Round 1 clash against the Brisbane Tigers was called off due to extreme weather and they recorded a draw against Norths in Round 2.
They were unable to spark a second half comeback similar to what they produced against the Devils last week.
For all Round 3 Saturday results, click here.
