Saavanah Bourke for Tweed Seagulls Media
The Gold Coast Airport women’s Tweed Seagulls have been sent back to the drawing board, after a tough 26-8 defeat against the Burleigh Bears at Pizzey Park on Saturday.
The Bears have set the benchmark high for the season ahead, running in five tries to two.
Seagulls head coach Spencer Taplin described his sides performance as ‘inconsistent’, with the loss marking two on the trot for Tweed.
“I take my hat off to the bears, they were very good today,” Taplin said.
The reigning premiers showed their class from the get go, with Bears halfback Ashlee Quinlan breaking through the visitors defensive line in just the 3rd minute.
It only took 3 more minutes for the Bears to do the same thing again, this time through forward Laikha Clarke.
Two more tries would come for Burleigh in the first half, thanks to winger Te Ata Moana and forward Sophie Buller.
It wasn’t until the second half where the Seagulls would finally put points on the board.
“Once I was able to talk to them at half time, they got back on track after that,” Taplin said.
Ten minutes into the second half, on debut Seagulls winger Chelsea Apps picked up the first 4 pointer for Tweed.
But it was a bittersweet outing for the debutant, coming off the field not long after with what could be a season ending injury.
“We think she might of cracked a rib. It will be a shame because she was great for us today.”
The Bears capitalised on this and found another try through centre Felice Quinlan.
But the Seagulls weren’t going down without a fight, fullback Jetaya Faifua added another 4 points for Tweed just before full time.
Despite more than half a dozen NRLW players returning to the side, Taplin said two training sessions together during the week wasn’t enough for the girls to re-spark relationships.
“Today was a real indication at where we are at.
“We have some great players who have returned in our spine and I know how well they can play but those combinations still need a bit more time.”
With Burleigh’s head coach out with Covid, Hostplus Cup head coach Rick Stone stepped in for the Bears, proving another element of difficulty for the Seagulls.
“He definitely made a difference in terms of how they played.
“It was a simple style of footy but very effective.”
Titan Zara Canfield could be in doubt for Tweed’s next clash with the Brisbane Panthers in a fortnight, after being put on report twice for two careless tackles.
“I spoke to her about it after the game, it definitely wasn’t intentional so I hope she’ll be available for our next game.”
Both teams have a week off over Easter before the Seagulls face the Brisbane Panthers in Round 4 and the Bears meet the North Queensland Gold Stars in Townsville.
“If we can implement our structures and game plan the rest will take care of itself,” Taplin said.
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