Tweed Seagulls RLFC, proudly backed by the Seagulls Club, head up to Redcliffe to take on the Dolphins in the inaugural Liam Hampson Cup on Sunday afternoon.
The newly formed cup commemorates the late Liam Hampson and also serves as a platform to recognise and support Hampo’s Youth Foundation—an inspiring initiative established to carry forward his legacy.
The Seagulls come into this one on the back of an impressive 30-16 win over the Norths Devils in Round 16. Kruise Leeming and Brent Woolf dominated behind the ruck to pick the Devils markers to pieces and lay the groundwork for points on the edges.
Possession ended up evenly split, but Tweed made their mark in yardage. With 11 players finishing up with over 100 metres to their name, the Seagulls ran for 350 more metres than the Devils on the day. Treymain Spry led the way with 179 metres of his own with five tackle breaks, one try and a superb try assist to boot.
Through the middle, Jaron Purcell once again impressed for 176 running metres while Jaron McCudden continued his season of big numbers with 117 metres and a team-high six tackle breaks and 32 tackles.
Leeming has been named to make his fourth start for the club this week with Brent Woolf to come off the bench. Meanwhile, Spry once again headlines a stellar backline with Tom Weaver and Will Brimson pulling the strings in the halves.
It will be a year to the day since these two teams last met. While Tweed’s Scott Galeano opened the scoring for the match, Redcliffe went on to score 30 unanswered points to take the chocolates with relative ease. This one is sure to be a lot closer, though.
Just one competition point separates the two teams on the ladder with Redcliffe’s quite remarkable three draws making up for winning one fewer game than Tweed’s nine for the year. The attack and defence numbers again paint the picture of an even contest. The Seagulls average 29.6 points per game to be one of the best-attacking teams in the Hostplus Cup to Redcliffe’s 28 points per game. In defence, however, the Dolphins pull slightly in front conceding 22.2 points per game to the Seagulls’ 23.9 points.
Redcliffe recorded their third draw of the season last week against the Townsville Blackhawks. Despite playing 79 minutes with an extra man and scoring two early tries, the Dolphins conceded three tries in 12 minutes to finish the first half. With only one try each after the break, a Thomas Duffy penalty goal in the 79th minute leveled up the scores.
Cousins Lindon and Brayden McGrady go head-to-head this week. Brayden made his NRL debut for the Dolphins a fortnight ago following a strong start to the year scoring 10 tries in 11 games. A prolific try scorer, he is one the Seagulls will be keeping a close eye on in this one. Trai Fuller is another. The 78-game Hostplus Cup veteran is well-known around the competition and continues to get better to have scored seven tries while handing out 10 try assists in 13 games this season.
Tweed and Redcliffe face an emotional build-up to Sunday afternoon in a fixture that will shake up the Top 8 with both sides facing the prospect of finishing the round as high as 5th or as low as 9th.
Player to Watch
A close friend of the late Liam Hampson, Will Brimson will be playing with a little bit extra in this one.
A key part of Tweed’s success this year, the 27-year-old is taken a Mr. Fix It approach to his role in the side starting as a five-eighth, centre and lock so far this season. Named at five-eighth for this one, Brimson has scored two tries and handed out six try assists in his seven games wearing #6 this year.
Brimson is a big body and strong runner of the ball. He averages 102 running metres per game as a five-eighth to constantly act as a running threat while getting deep into the line and compressing the defence before firing a pass wide. Tweed plays with a lot of width and look to get the ball wide early and often. Keep an eye on how Brimson straightens the attack and works the space around the three-in defender to create space for Lee Turner and Kaleb Ngamanu on the left edge.
Coaches Comments
Every game is important but there is a little bit more involved this week than most.
“We’ve got the Liam Hampson Cup this week which is obviously going to be an emotional day for the boys – for both teams,” Penna said.
“On the day, the boys who were close to Liam, it’s about making sure they’re okay and once the whistle goes it’s a game of footy.”
Toby Sexton’s departure has opened the door for Will Brimson to return to the halves for the rest of the year.
“Brimmo has been out five-eighth for a number of years now,” said Penna.
“For a while there he was playing a fair bit of #13 working alongside Toby and Tommy but Toby has moved on, and that’s great for Tob’s, but for us as club Brimmo slots straight in there and in a couple of week time he and Tom will be flowing again.”
The two teams are fairly even on the ladder and the expectation is for a tough one on Sunday afternoon.
“They have got great line speed, they’re in your face, they run the ball hard and have some quality outside backs and big middles. It’s going to be a tough game of footy.
“They’re sitting in the Top 8 for a reason. They’ve got a lot of experience and I’m expecting a really hard game.
“We’re going to have to be at our best to give ourselves a chance.”
Written by Rugby League Writers for Tweed Seagulls Media
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