By Terry Wilson
Cats leave Gorillas floundering in the mist
Wilston Grange coach Barry O’Brien took the extraordinary steps of apologising to his rivals following an inglorious effort by the Gorillas away to Broadbeach on Saturday.
O’Brien was left fuming after Broadbeach blew his side apart on the way to a huge 26.12 (168) to 7.6 (48) victory at Subaru Oval.
This came after the Gorillas led 5.0 to 3.0 at quarter-time and had given every indication that they were, indeed, genuine final five contenders.
Instead they were outscored by 23.12 to 2.6, conceding 17 goals straight before they finally found the middle of the big sticks in the 12th minute of the final quarter.
That was enough for O’Brien to offer an apology to his rival Beau Zorko.
“It was a disgrace, it was unacceptable,” said O’Brien, who expected a lot, lot more from his players.
“That’s two weeks in a row now that we’ve led and today just shows that we’ve gone backwards.
“As I said to the Broadbeach boys ‘sorry for putting that on for you’. You work so hard for 30 minutes and three quarters later…
“We just can’t dish that up and it’s why we’ve got the name we do. I don’t mind competitive losses but we got flogged.”
A quarter-time rev-up from Zorko worked for Broadbeach. The Cats suddenly found their mojo and started running the ball which, in turn, coincided with a drop in effort and chase from the visitors.
“I thought they (Grange) were really good early and I had some firm words for my boys at quarter-time,” he said.
“I thought our composure under their pressure was lacking a bit but we obviously rectified that.”
The Cats had 12 different goalkickers in the rout, which boosted their percentage from a pre-match 85.81 to being back in the black on 110.19.
Southport-listed left-footer Jake Hinds kicked 5.4, big Jason Cloke, steadily running into some ominous form, finished with 4.1 while on-ballers and flankers Brandon Chadwick (3), Jackson Fisher (3) Liam Nelson (2), Jack O’Shea (2) and Jai Lyons (2) all featured in the scoring as well as their side’s best players.
The message was loud and clear that the Cats are going to get stronger and stronger with a new-look line-up starting to gel, keeping in mind that the side they fielded against the Grange included only six survivors from the 2018 grand final team.
“We were pleased that we kept the foot down (after quarter-time), said Zorko.
“But we’re very mindful that we’ve gone win-loss, win-loss this season.”
Next weekend Broadbeach host struggling Sandgate while the Gorillas have a night home match against Morningside at Hickey Park.
O’Brien struggled to name winners on the day for the Grange. He liked the effort put in by Isaac Corvo in the physicality stakes but after that the cupboard was pretty bare in terms of team contribution.
Broadbeach 3.0, 9.4, 17.7, 26.12 (168)Wilston Grange 5.0, 5.2, 5.3, 7.6 (48)
GOALS, Broadbeach: J. Hinds 5, J. Cloke 4, J. Fisher 3, B. Chadwick 3, L. Nelson 2, J. O’Shea 2, J. Lyons 2, S. Rogers 1, B. Neal 1, J. Searl 1, T. Betson 1, K. Sheers 1. Wilston Grange: L. Mason 1, A. Hughes 1, H. Leong 1, J. Aganas 1, H. Milford 1, Z. Puncken 1, R. Thomson 1.
BEST, Broadbeach: L. Nelson, J. Lyons, B. Chadwick, J. Fisher, J. Hinds, J. Cloke. Wilston Grange: I. Corvo, D. Farry, D. Reid, H. Leong, J. Aganas, L. Molan.
Burge injury sours PBC’s Coast derby win
Star Palm Beach Currumbin midfielder Jason Burge is likely to miss the upcoming State representative game after sustaining a foot injury against Labrador on Saturday.
The 2017 Grogan Medallist will be having X-rays to determine if he has a broken foot although PBC coach Jess Sinclair is expecting the worst.
“We’re keeping our fingers crossed that it’s not broken but it was not looking good last night,” he said.
If the news is all bad, Burge is likely to be sidelined for up to six weeks and he joining fellow Lions prime movers Jack Anthony (ankle) and Jackson Emblem (broken hand) in the sick bay.
The Burge injury took some gloss away from PBC’s victory, by 14.8 (92) to 9.12 (66) at Salk Oval.
It was a professional win by the premiers although definitely not all one-way traffic. The fact Labrador had 21 scoring shots to 22 confirms that.
It was just a four-goal break the Lions put on the Tigers in the second quarter that proved the difference in what was a good Coast derby.
Scored were level at quarter-time before PBC kicked four goals to one in the second stanza.
They held on to that margin for the remainder of the game.
“We went with them and he had our opportunities but it was just none of those things,” said Labrador coach Liam Burke.
“They had a patch of goals in the second quarter but we were too slow to respond top it.
“I’m frustrated that we weren’t able to play four quarters again, a solid four quarters, but the message was there that we could have been in the contest a lot longer.”
It was interesting to note that PBC named ruckman Jon Croad as second best player and Labrador had his ruck rival Andy Hollis as their best.
“Probably Croady got on top of us when Andy was on the bench,” was the Burke assessment of that.
Burke gave credit to on-baller Tom Davidson and Dane Watmuff in defence for their wholehearted efforts.
Over in the PBC camp Sinclair was more than happy to highlight the fact his side had 10 individual goalkickers, answering in part to a theory that without their forward star Anthony the Lions will struggle.
Nathan Carr, Tyler Cornish, Tom Thynne and Brock Askey all booted two goals for the winners.
“There was no way we were expecting to blow them out of the water and knew at quarter-time we had a game on our hands,” said Sinclair.
“After quarter time I thought our pressure on the ball was at its best.”
Thynne and Jesse Derrick were clearly best for the Lions across the centre while defender Callum McBurnie continued his solid form highlighted by plenty of rebound.
Palm Beach Currumbin 3.2, 8.5, 11.7, 14.8 (92)
Labrador 3.2, 4.5, 6.8, 9.12 (66)
GOALS, Palm Beach Currumbin: N. Carr 2, T. Thynne 2, B. Askey 2, T. Cornish 2, J. Macansh 1, A. Dawson 1, J. Harrison 1, Z. Harrison 1, R. Harris 1, G. Screech 1. Labrador: T. Davidson 3, B. Fagan 2, B. Retzlaff 2, W. Mills 1, J. Sands 1.
BEST, Palm Beach Currumbin: J. Derrick, J. Croad, C. McBurnie, B. Askey, T. Thynne, J. Harrison. Labrador: A. Hollis, T. Davidson, B. Grant, D. Watmuff, J. Young, A. McKay.
Leahy lifts and so do the Vultures
Last year’s Rising Star Award nomination Joel Leahy turned on what Mt Gravatt coach Adam Boon thought was a season-best performance when the Vultures piled more pain on to struggling Sandgate on Saturday.
Leahy and captain Andrew Smith were two who responded to Boon’s quarter-time call for a lift and were instrumental in the Vultures turning a five-point quarter-time deficit into an 8.9 to 6.2 lead at half-time.
“That was easily Joel’s best game of the year,” said Boon after the Vultures recorded a runaway 21.23 (149) to 210.7 (67) victory at Dittmer Park.
“He did not have a great impact in the first quarter but after that his high intensity and his high speed got him a lot of footy through the middle.
“And Andrew (Smith), I asked him for a lift and he gave us that.”
So did Jack Coghlan when he was stationed on a wing and Chris Murphy continued his stellar season with another non-stop contribution.
When Sandgate kicked the first three goals of the game an upset looked the be on the cards but that same old problems the Hawks have had – youth and inexperience – allowed the home side to finish the opening term with two goals.
Down 19 points at half-time, the rot set in for the Hawks in the third quarter when Mt Gravatt put on 7.11 to 2.1.
“All of our composure went out of the window and we seemed to panic,” said Hawks coach Jarad Marsh.
“It’s just that we’re very, very young,” said Marsh.
“Today we had six players who are eligible for the colts.
“We were happy at half-time and all the signs were there but after that the composure was all gone.”
Sandgate had any number of triers, none more so than State squad hopeful Loki Haines at the back, where Mitch Crawley (full-back) also stood out.
Jordan Maynard, playing in the middle, also pleased Marsh.
Mt Gravatt now head into a key away engagement next weekend when they trek down the M1 for a clash against second-placed Surfers Paradise at Sir Bruce Small Park.
Sandgate join them on the M1 journey for a fixture against Broadbeach at Subaru Oval.
Mt Gravatt 2.3, 8.9, 15.20, 21.23 (149)
Sandgate 3.2, 6.2, 8.3, 10.7 (67)
GOALS, Mt Gravatt: S. Stubbs 4, J. Huddy 3, J. Licht 3, K. Baker 2, M. Doust 2, T. Jamieson 2, L. O’Sullivan 1, C. Murphy 1, F. Neate 1, J. Coghlan 1, A. Christensen 1. Sandgate: J. Taglieri 2, J. Maynard 2, L. Bradford 1, J. Larkins 1, L. Harrop 1, K. McKenzie 1, B. Hartley 1, A. Fabian 1/
BEST, Mt Gravatt: J. Leahy, J. Coghlan, A. Smith, C. Murphy, F. Neate, J. Licht. Sandgate: L. Haines, M. Crawley, J. Maynard, K. McKenzie, J. Cole-Jackson, J. Harding.
