With 5 games at BMD Kougari Oval on Sunday, you’d be forgiven for thinking that we were handing out free lottery tickets, as people came from everywhere to see some high quality football.
4 wins and a golden point semi final loss capped off a near-perfect day in front of a Chook Pen crowd that reinforced our home field advantage as only they can.
The Wynnum Manly Juniors BRL Reserve Grade won 30-6 over Souths Magpies, before our BRL A Grade team won 42-10, also over Souths Magpies.
Up next, the Cyril Connell Cup U17 played their semi final against Burleigh Bears. The two best teams in the South East pool were both loaded with NRL-contracted players in what promised to be an entertaining match.
The Seagulls had an 18-4 lead with 14 minutes remaining before Burleigh fought back to score 3 tries in 9 minutes and flip the game. Heading into the final seconds, Burleigh led 20-18, before giving away a penalty after the siren.
Lachie Hooker kicked the penalty goal from the sideline in front of a rapturous crowd to send the game into golden point extra time. Unfortunately, Burleigh scored off the back of a penalty and won the game 24-20. Our Seagulls U17s had a fantastic season, only losing one game by a field goal, before going down in the semi final in golden point.
The Mal Meninga teams played next, with the Seagulls looking to get back in the winner’s circle after a few losses in a row. A barnstorming performance saw them run away with the game, winning 38-12 over the CQ Capras.
Leading into the Hostplus Cup match between the Seagulls and Souths Magpies, both teams observed a minute’s silence in remembrance of Mitch Cronin after being led onto the field by his family.
Souths sported names such as Marty Taupau, Tyson Smoothy, Ben Te Kura, Anthony Milford, Coby Black and Blake Mozer in what was a formidable lineup.
Wynnum Manly scored off the opening set after a Brendan Frei break to set up Cameron Bukowski next to the posts. The momentum continued in the Seagulls direction from that moment onwards as Souths were never really in the contest.
The Magpies managed to get a couple of tries back, but the Seagulls led 24-10 heading into the break with further tries from Ron Philitoga, a second to Bukowski and then Jock Madden.
Beni Allen opened the scoring after the break, before Jamie Hill and Oskar Enasio also crossed the line. Ben Far sealed the outstanding performance with a double within 3 minutes, as Wynnum Manly secured a 54-20 victory over a Broncos-stacked Souths Logan Magpies team. Jock Madden kicked 9/9 conversions in a great day for the Seagulls both on and off the field. Chaz Jarvis also made his Hostplus Cup debut for the Seagulls and will feature heavily throughout the season.
The team travel to Cairns to play the Northern Pride this Sunday at 2:10pm. The game can be watched for free on Kayo Freebies, 9Now and QPlus.tv.