The Romano Group Seagulls A-grade side have begun the toughest six weeks of their season with a solid effort in 26-12 defeat competition pace-setters Burleigh Bears – but know they will benefit from the experience.
The Seagulls take on top two sides currently on the ladder, Burleigh and Tugun, three times this season and twice on successive weeks from round 8 (last weekend) and round 13, with clashes against Southport and Bilambil in between.
They began the season with a 28-18 loss to the Bears, then beat Tugun in round three 36-10, but coach Darryl Fisher knows the next six weeks will give the best indication on how his third-paced side is tracking.
The Gulls held the Bears, who had young Intrust Super Cup players of this season Keanu Te Kiri, Daniel Schwass, last year’s ISC premiership-winning winger Waka Wanahi and 2015 ISC player of the year Tyler Chadburn in their side, to 6-all at half-time.
However, ball control was not quite as good in the second session and bigger share of possession allowed Burleigh to slip away to a match-winning lead.
Coach Darryl Fisher, who had to miss the match because of an overseas family wedding, said his coaching staff reported a good enthusiastic performance by the team against a side they knew would play up-tempo football and he was happy with the effort after viewing the match video.
“This is the start of a challenging period for us but one we’ve been looking forward to,” he said.
“It was a really good crack by our boys and they’ll benefit from matching it for much of the game.
“We have a lot of players who hadn’t played open age football until this season and are adapting to it.
“But they need to play well at this level against teams like Burleigh if they have aspirations of playing Queensland Cup football, so the next few weeks will be a good learning experience for them.”
The Seagulls take on Tugun at Piggabeen at 2pm this Sunday then go into clashes against Southport (away), Bilambil (home), Burleigh (home) and Tugun (away) which takes them up to round 13 of the 17-round competition.
With Runaway Bay’s clash with Currumbin postponed because of the weather, the Gulls retained third spot and can go back to second with a win against Tugun.
Burleigh Bears 28 beat Tweed Heads 12 (Jordan Aiono-Fatu, Regan Ogle-Muir tries; Mackenzie Reid 2 goals) at Pizzey Park.
THE LADDER AFTER EIGHT ROUNDS:
| POS | TEAM | P | W | D | L | B | FOR | AGST | PD | PTS |
| 1 | Burleigh | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 342 | 104 | 238 | 24 |
| 2 | Tugun | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 238 | 138 | 100 | 19 |
| 3 | Tweed Heads | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 190 | 130 | 60 | 18 |
| 4 | Runaway Bay | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 204 | 136 | 68 | 15 |
| 5 | Bilambil | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 144 | 180 | -36 | 13 |
| 6 | Southport | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 144 | 188 | -44 | 13 |
| 7 | Currumbin | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 108 | 222 | -114 | 11 |
| 8 | Ormeau | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 54 | 326 | -272 | 7 |
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