Neil Cadigan
Winger Talor Walters pulled off his second successive hat-trick of tries as the Ben Campbell Building Group Seagulls are just a victory this Sunday away from a home semi-final and securing sixth spot on the ladder after a convincing 42-20 victory against Souths Logan Magpies at Davies Park on Sunday.
The quality of the victory is obvious on the stats sheet that shows the Seagulls had little more than a third of possession throughout the match and all but one try was scored from movements that started in the Seagulls half.
The fact that Souths, who had won four of their previous four matches including victories over finals-bound Norths Devils and Redcliffe Dolphins, could score only two tries in the first 69 minutes despite their dominance of possession was also a tribute to the character of Tweed’s defence.
Yet coach Ben Woolf was most pleased with the ball control and the attacking combinations that are really coming together – especially five-eighth Ash Taylor and fullback Lindon McGrady pus Walters and centre Treymain Spry on the right side.
Walters, who was outstanding at fullback for the first half of the season but has been moved to the wing where he has displayed his finishing class, has scored eight tries in the past five matches to move to 13 for the season.
His three tries all came in the second half as the Seagulls stretched their half-time 18-6 lead to 42-8 before the Magpies scored two consolation tries in the last 10 minutes.
“Talor has been really good on the wing and Lindon at fullback too, so it has given us extra attacking edge with them both playing so well,” Woolf said.
“It’s not often you see a side score so many points with so little possession but we scored just about all of our tries coming out of our half which was a pretty good effort.
“They threw a lot at us too as they tossed the ball around, often in their yardage sets coming out of their end, so we did well to defend that.
“We controlled the ball really well; I think we only made two errors in the first half. And our attack is really coming together which is pleasing going into the finals.”
Will Matthews joined Taylor are the two most experienced NRL players in the Seagulls side (with Leilani Latu likely to miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury) and both were impressive. The pair will add tremendous football-smarts and composure to the line-up in coming weeks if they are not recalled by the Titans.
John Palavi continues to be the leader of the pack with his strong, error-free efforts in attack and defence and, at 27, his form this season shows that he would still be an asset to any NRL club.
Lamar Liolevave was first to score for the Seagulls when he crossed off a Taylor pass in the 13th minute before McGrady, who scored 18 points from a try and seven goals, was next to cross six minutes later.
Five tries followed, with Walter finishing off three – his last an impressive effort when he was slipped a one-handed offload from Spry but had to get outside his wing and then beat the Magpies’ fullback to score.
Tweed finish the competition rounds with the clash with Northern Pride on Saturday (4pm) and a victory would keep them in front of the fast-finishing Redcliffe, who they will play the following week in the first week of the finals, irrespective of the result.
Tweed Heads Seagulls 42 (T Walters 3, L Liolevave, L McGrady, K Murphy, I Seiuli tries; L McGrady 7 goals) def. Souths Logan Magpies 20 (L Cooper, L Port, M Soper-Lawler, B Gibb tries; G Hamilton 2 goals) at Davies Park.
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