Mayne Tigers threw their hat into the Finals ring with a solid win over a very disappointing Sandgate at Lemke Rd.
The win puts both sides on 28 points just 2 points behind Surfers Paradise in 5th spot.
The Tigers dominated the 2nd half keeping the Hawks goal less after the main break.
“We were insipid, the way we are playing at the moment we don’t deserve a spot in the finals,” said Sandgates’ Coach Ben Long.
“We haven’t been able to rise to the challenge in important games, a combination of injury and inexperience has seen us fall short on a number of occasion but take nothing away from Mayne they played really well” he added.
A happy Mitch Ferguson responded, “we did play well, it was a physical game and we attacked the ball with purpose, we adapted to the conditions better than the Hawks.”
The return of Luke Faulkner from injury had an immediate effect as the talented forward kick 6 goals, Glen Ryan was dominant around the centre and Bill Stephens was solid as a rock in defense.
Ferguson singled out 15 year old Everton Junior, Henry Leung for some special praise, “this was the best debut performance I have seen, this kid has real talent and will be a big boost to the teams’ defense,” he said.
Best players for the Hawks were, Ben Beaven, Pat Walton, Trent Fuller and Will Bradley. For the Tigers Tom O’Malley, Jack Collins, Will Stephens and Luke Faulkner were outstanding in their 14.12.96 to 4.7.31 victory.
The Gorillas turned up the heat in the 2nd half to run away from the Pumas in their clash at Sunlinc Oval winning15.13.103 to 7.8.50.
“We kicked the first 4 goals but to their credit Springwood came back and had a go. We stuck to our game plan all day and used the ball very well in attack,” said victorious Coach David Martin.
Andrew Mills (6 goals) and Dean Warren (4 goals) were unstoppable in attack for Wilston Grange while others to stand out for the Gorillas were Cale Agosta, Brenton Ogle, Kristen Higgs and Hugh Campbell
Springwood Coach Tony King said, “Both clubs had 6 senior players out so it was even in that department and we lost our FF at half time when we were still very much in the game but the reality is Grange played far better than us from the beginning and hurt us when we turned the ball over.”
“With that extra pressure we went back to our old ways and lost our creativity and the reminder is that we have a truck load of work to do to be in that top 5 mix and today was a good learning curve for the boys and to take into the Magpies next week,” he added
Springwoods best were Blake Wallis, Mark Hopkins, Chris Venerman, Jake McGill and Jacob King
