FINALS football remains on the radar for Surfers Paradise after the Demons had to dig deep to see off Springwood at Sir Bruce Small Park on Saturday.
By Terry Wilson
Springwood led the Demons at both quarter and half-time, but the home side surged back in the second half to take the game by 16.11 (107) to 11.5 (71).
Victory put the Demons on 20 points, level in fifth spot with Palm Beach-Currumbin, although Surfers’ poor percentage of 97.5 could end up hurting them come late August.
Winning coach Beau Zorko, who now has two from two since replacing Rob Martin in the job, described the clash as ‘a strange game’ after the Pumas looked to have things under control.
“They came to play,” said Zorko of the first half. “They were hungrier, they were enthusiastic and they had more energy.
“It was not until after half-time that we hit the switch and it all came back.
“We put it on the group and asked them the question and they responded
“It was about having some pride in performance and putting responsibility back on them.”
Zorko said it was a positive to have his players run the game right out.
“We’ve really struggled to kick goals and finish games off. It as pleasing that happened this time,” said Zorko.
While things were rosy in the Surfers camp, things were the opposite with Springwood who felt they were victims of some contentious decisions.
The Pumas had two players red-carded and played with basically 17 players on the field for the second half, which perhaps best explains events.
“We should have won that,” said coach Paul Opbroek, clearly angry at decisions that went against his side.
Adding to his distress was the loss of on-baller Josh Brown with injury in the first quarter.
“But we managed to hold on,” said Opbroek in praise of the gutsy effort.
Best for Surfers were James Nancarrow on a wing, vice-captain Sean Atkinson at half-back and captain Jacob Clark on-ball.
For the Pumas, ruck-rover sMichael Grose and Mark Thompson and centre half-back Jacob King were best.
