Dominant performances by tall forwards Caleb Hay and Darcy Trask steered the Gold Coast Metro Academy to a 44-point win against the North Queensland SUNS Academy at Townsville’s Tony Ireland stadium on Saturday night.
There were less than 3-goals separating the teams at three-quarter time in a quick, high standard game that served as a curtain closer to the GC SUNS vs North Melbourne NAB Cup Match.
But a stunning 5-goal-to-1 last quarter by the Metro side set up a 13.6 (84) to 6.4 (40) victory.
Hay was a handful for his North Queensland opponents from the outset and finished with 4-goals, while the lively Trask booted 3.
The Metro forwards received plenty of supply from midfielders Nick Burton, Kieran Le Jeune, Bill O’Donnell, and Lachlan Weller.
Todd Carbone and Rhys Bridge stood up well in defence for North Queensland, but by the last quarter the high number of forward-50 entries proved too much as Metro piled on the goals.
For North Queensland the shining lights were tall forwards James Farley-Smith (3 goals) and Rockhampton’s Stephen Mills; while tall defender/forward Jack Goodall (Cairns) was also prominent.
Coach Jason Torney will tonight announce the the final Gold Coast Suns Academy team to play two matches against the Brisbane Lions on Sat March 16th and 23rd.
From these games the Queensland Scorpions squad will be selected for this year’s NAB National Under 18s Championships.
Metro Suns Academy 13.6 (84)
North Qld Academy 6.4 (40)
Goals Metro: Hay 4, Trask 3, Stevenson 2, Cornish, Neal, Blood, Fraser 1
Goals NQ: Farley-Smith 3, Koch, Goodall, Michael 1
Best Metro: O’Donnell, Le Jeune, Weller, Hay, Trask
Best NQ: Farley-Smith, Goodall, Mills, Carbone, Duffy
