By Jim O’Reilly
Seagulls Contributor

Anyone thinking the Northern Pride aren’t up to it in the Intrust Super Cup would be sadly mistaken.

The Pride commuted down from Cairns to Pinklands Sports Complex on Saturday to take on the Wynnum Manly Seagulls. The Gulls took the game to Redlands as part of their Deadly Choices partnership and the first of two Indigenous Recognition Matches, working with local health clinic Yulu Burri Ba to support indigenous health initiatives.

You could assume all that travel would make Pride tired and lethargic, but they were anything but. 

On the back of a Joshua Stuckey hat-trick, the Pride ran in seven tries to two to completely overpower the Seagulls flock 42-12.

Right from Grant Anderson’s try for the Pride in the third minute, Pride were up and about and applauding each players’ efforts in defence, attack, play the balls and more.

It was the polar opposite for the Seagulls; who appeared to be lacking their usual spark. 

For a brief moment in the the eighth minute when Francis Kalisolaite-Tualau crashed over close to the posts and Jack Campagnolo converted, you were guilty of thinking “…ok here we go, the ‘Gulls are back in it”. But sadly, that was a very fleeting thought.

Four minutes later Stuckey scored his first of three tries close to the posts, converted by Grant Anderson, taking the Pride to 12-6.

The mood of the Seagulls soured even more when perennial workhorse Matiu Love-Henry was taken from the field with a significant leg injury, that could see him out for the season. Love-Henry is very much the barometer for team cohesion and energy and when he left you could see the Wynnum Manly side’s heads drop.

From there, errors and poor defence took over the Wynnum Manly team’s game and the Pride took full advantage.

A converted try to Tom Steadman in the 35th minute saw Pride go to the break 30-6 up and the comments in the fairly sizeable local crowd were “…….the Seagulls will bounce back in the second half”. 

Unfortunately that would not be the case.

Tries in the 50th and 70th minute and a penalty shot in the 77th minute saw the Pride run out winners 42-12.

Coach Adam Brideson shared, “we allowed ourselves to be outplayed in every facet of the game today…. we are better than that”. 

The Seagulls travel to Maryborough next week to face the PNG Hunters in the second Indigenous Recognition Match for the year.

By Jim O’Reilly

Driving into the town of Chinchilla, nearly four hours west of Brisbane, the tallest structures in the city are the giant grain silos on the right hand side of the main road.

Continue reading “Burleigh win battle in the bush” →

By Jarrod Vidler (Redcliffe Dolphins correspondent)

Jayden Nikorima scored two tries and set up another in his first Intrust Super Cup game in more than two years to help the Redcliffe Dolphins defeat the ladder-leading Wynnum Manly Seagulls 40-34 on a chilly Saturday night at Moreton Daily Stadium.  

The former Sydney Roosters player scored the opening try of the game in the fifth minute and was also involved in the next two tries for the Dolphins. 

Nikorima threw the last pass to set up winger Junior Ratuva for a debut try, and then shortly after, raced almost the length of the field to make it a double in his return game before half-time. 

Coach Adam Mogg was pleased with the performance of Nikorima, who has had to overcome some adversity in his career. 

“I thought he was outstanding and he’ll get a lot better than that too,” Mogg said. 

“Full credit to the kid, he works really hard on his own personal development.

“He’ll get where he needs to go, that’s for sure.”

The match was a see-saw battle with a total of 13 tries scored. 

After the Dolphins scored first, the Seagulls hit back with two tries in the space of four minutes to Edward Burns and Zeb Taia to take the lead. 

Burns scored again in the first half, but the Dolphins led 18-16 at the break.

The second half was entertaining for the crowd, with both teams taking turns in crossing the try line. 

With 15 minutes to go, the Intrust Super Cup’s leading point-scorer this season Jack Campagnolo put the Seagulls in front with a try under the posts.

A penalty from the ensuing kick-off then gave Wynnum Manly an opportunity to take control of the game, but they dropped the ball off the restart which gave the Dolphins a chance to hit back. 

Redcliffe did just that with a brilliant cut-out pass from captain Cameron Cullen finding the chest of winger Samual Elara, also on debut, who finished brilliantly in the corner.

Justin Worley, who finished with six from seven with the boot, converted from the sideline to give the Dolphins the lead with less than 10 minutes to play. 

The match-sealing try came in the final minute when Trai Fuller chased through a Sheldon Pitama kick and won the race to the ball to make it four home wins in a row for the Dolphins. 

Mogg was proud of his players for finding a way to get the result. 

“Really proud of our team with a lot of guys on debut,” Mogg said. 

“I thought they (Dolphins) did a good job of controlling the tempo of the game, slowing it up when they needed to and speeding it up when they wanted to.

“I felt like the score line was a fair result.”

Next week, the Seagulls will head to Chinchilla to play the Bears for the QRL’s Country Week.