BURLEIGH
BEARS 30
Tries: Darren Anderson 2,
Jamie Mahon, Aaron Douglas, Dean Allen,
Shane O'Flanagan
Goals: Reggie Cressbrook 3
defeated WYNNUM
SEAGULLS 14
Tries: David Seage, Matt
Fisher, Trevor Exton
Goals: Jay O'Doherty
Venue: Kougari Oval
Date: Saturday March 11
Referee: Paul Oliver
Half-time: Burleigh 14-4
Written by: Michael Higgison
Conditions: Warm, very slight
breeze favouring scoreboard end - no
advantage, good for football and guzzling
Bourbon. Well, just on 6 o'clock the
"boss" (my wife) finally gave
me a permit to head out to the Burleigh v Wynnum match at Kougari due to kick-off
at 7:15pm. I think it was the sympathy
vote I earned from skulking around the
house all afternoon after missing out on
the Wests v Norths match earlier due to
an important appointment with the
Capalaba masses at Coles!!!
Anyway,
"Whistleblower" (who rarely
posts on this forum these days due to his
refereeing commitments) and I arrived at
Kougari just in time to see Souths put
the finishing touches on a 32-8
shellacking (I think!) win in
"A" grade. They also apparently
won the colts 22-20 by the board. So I
simply grabbed a couple of cans of
"Jim Beam and Cola's" - yes, I
know its the Bundy Gold Cup, but I don't
blue well enough when I'm blind to drink
that "death-water" sh!t - and
settled in on halfway in the
grandstand(?) for what I anticipated to
be somewhat of a Bears whitewash. (or
should that be maroon-and-white-wash?)
To my
surprise though, and pleasantly, what
Wynnum lacked in size, reputation,
experience and overall skill, they
certainly made up for in heart, only
going down 30-14, when in reality no more
than a try should have separated the two
sides. In front of a small but rowdy and
hardcore crowd in the "chook
pen", the Seagulls took this match
right up to the Gold Coast lads, and were
still even in with a chance of jagging
their first win of the season with 10
minutes remaining - only trailing 10-18,
yet enjoying the majority of possession
and position.
Overall,
it was a relatively unconvincing victory
for the reigning title-holders, three of
their "meat-pies" coming
against the run of play and two others
purely from the at times, wafer-thin
Seagulls' defence. (Cripes, I thought
even I could have barged through for one
of these in particular!) I might add
however, that the Bears were always going
to come away with the two points on the
night.
From the
outset, the Seagulls struggled to contain
Shane O'Flanagan, Ian Graham and Hamish
Smith, these three responsible for
probably 50% of all territory gained
throughout the match. Darren Anderson
played a skipper's knock for the maroon
and whites, and put in a super effort at
5/8, dangerous every time he touched the
pill.
It was a
magnificently placed kick across field
inside the Wynnum 20 from Anderson, which
resulted in lock Dean Allen touching down
amongst no less than four red and green
jerseys for the easiest and first try of
the night. It should have been a
non-event though, as the Wynnum defenders
all appeared to stand around with their
fingers up their arses instead of at
least challenging for the reception !!!
However,
the highlight of the evening was by far
the Aaron Douglas try, which really swung
the match for the Bears. Wynnum were
attacking on their third set within the
Bears half, in fact at this stage they
were only 10 metres out. A swift back line movement saw a
cut-out pass turn into a
"finger-breaker" for pocket
dynamo half Ronny Troutman. The loose
ball was scooped up by Bears centre
Reggie Cressbrook who immediately sent a
flying Douglas down the grandstand(?)
sideline for an apparently certain
Burleigh touchdown.
It was
here that "from the boon-docks"
came Wynnum fullback Lance Cronk, who set
sail after the Bears flyer, who had a 6-8
metre head start. Fair dinkum, it was like
watching a Johnson-Shirvo sprint all over
again!!! (Where did the bay side mob find
this bloke ???) Make no mistake, you'll
spot this Cronk fella very quickly if you
head out to see a Wynnum game this year.
Anyway,
Cronk lunged at Douglas about 10 metres
from the try line, but could only get one
hand on the try-bound Bear, and over he
went right around under the sticks.
The
noisiest effort of the night definitely
went to the Seagulls when centre Matt
Fisher swooped through to intercept a
wayward Burleigh pass on halfway, and
sprinted unchallenged, fist in the air,
to score under the black dot. He followed
this up with a magnificent somersault (of
9.4 difficulty I might add!) right in
front of the "chook pen" to the
delight of pen regulars. Sensational!
Look, it
was a match very pleasing to the eye, and
had everything - including a late
second-half all-in stink following a
dangerous tackle on Matt Fisher.
For
Wynnum, Fisher and half Troutman tried
hard, the entire forward pack never gave
in, and the evergreen Ricky Taylor played
his typical "heart on the
sleeve" match. Although slightly
outplayed, Wynnum proved they won't be
the easy beats of the competition this
year.
Conversely,
the Bears did not play to the high
standard with which we have become
accustomed, but their overall
professionalism and class right the way
across the park was always going to get
them over the line in this one. Coach
Rick Stone told them before the match
that there are no "free
lunches" at this level of football,
but you'll especially get nothing playing
Wynnum at Kougari Oval on a Saturday
night.
I'll also
mention here that Hamish Smith, the Bears
second-rower, was placed on report for
some "grubby" use of his knees
in a tackle. From where I sat, and I
don't mind a bit of "bump and
niggle" in my football, I thought he
should probably get a weeks rest, and
that he could probably consider himself
lucky to stay on the field. I guess we'll
see ....
As for
referee Paul Oliver .... well I've been
very critical of his inconsistency in the
past, and from what I saw tonight ....
nothing has changed! His 10 metres were
up and down, his penalties were drawn out
of a hat, and his overall demeanour gave
the impression of someone out of their
depth. I'm not usually one to
"dress-down" referees (except
for Tony Maksoud when he canes Wests out
of EVERY match he has them!) but I really
don't believe this north Queensland hick
is up to this standard of match. (And no,
I'm not saying his performance affected
the result!)
I was also
fortunate enough to be sitting right
between Bears coach Rick Stone on my
left, and referee Maksoud amongst others
on my right. So I was able to experience
a little from two separate camps, giving
me a little insight into what each sees
at this level. Interesting, very
interesting!
As well as
this, Burleigh held their
"lemon-break" chat on-field, so
I managed to wangle my way through a sea
of Bears officials into their official
huddle. Coach Stone is certainly a cool
customer, and I don't think he is prone
to knee-jerk reactions when the going
gets tough.
I tried to
sneak into the Seagulls sheds as well,
but was quickly escorted away by some
"suits". However, I did hear
Seagulls coach Geoff Naylor get stuck
right into his charges, and I'm sure the
paint was blistering off the walls at one
stage. Ouch!!! (Naylor was one of the
true hard men from Easts back in those
great sides of the 70's .... and obviously nothing has changed!)
In a
nutshell ....
-Burleigh
deserved their win, but probably not by
as the score showed. They will need to
show more if they are going to go
"back-to-back" this year.
-Wynnum
showed they won't be also-rans this year.
They made a few more mistakes than their
counterparts, but most were mainly due to
trying to match the Bears forward-power
and back line speed.
-Referee
Paul Oliver put in a "mixed
bag" showing, and will need to
improve to keep his spot in the top
grade.
-and me
.... well I've got an unopened bottle of
Jim Beam in the cupboard, and I think
that's a poor performance on my part! So
I reckon I should lift my game, crack
that Beamer, and settle in front of my
Foxtel for the Bronc's-Cowboys match !!!!
|
