The Gold Coast Airport Tweed Seagulls responded well to conceding early points and managed to hold a lead in the second half, but a fast-finishing Mackay Cutters scored three tries in nine minutes on their way to a 26-16 BMD Premiership win at BB Print Stadium, Mackay.
A penalty in the kickoff set put the Seagulls on the backfoot early with the Cutters crossing in only the second minute of the game. Keegan Irelandes added the finishing touches to a wide-ranging right shift as Kolora Lomani desperately tracked across the field in cover defence.
The ensuing kick off flying out on the full made matters worse for the visitors. An error out of yardage again put pressure on the Tweed line. However, having arrived a split second too late five minutes earlier, Lomani bundled Irelandes into touch the second time around and provided her side with an opportunity to play themselves into the match.
With some possession and field position, the Seagulls took a 6-4 lead after ten minutes. From close to the same spot she had done a week earlier, Gloria-Hannah Murray-Fiu sold a dummy right and ducked left from behind the ruck to sneak over and score her second of the season.
An error out of yardage in the kickoff set made sure the lead was short-lived, though. The two Cutters props – Essay Banu and Laikha Clarke – linked up through the middle to generate a quick play-the-ball only five metres from the Tweed line. With it, Tahlulah Tillett threw a delicate short ball to Sareka Mooka who carried two Seagulls over the line to score.
Having sent the last one out on the full, Zara Canfield managed to bounce her next kickoff out beyond the Cutters dead ball line to provide Tweed with the chance to answer straight back. They searched left and right through both back rowers. Canfield’s carry proved especially threatening. But Tweed couldn’t find a way through, and when a Bridget Hoy error soon returned Mackay to good ball, the home side extended their lead through Katie Green.
The kickoff craziness continued for Canfield’s third of the afternoon. Again flirting with the sideline, she landed this one on the touchline to give the Cutters another penalty on halfway. Emma Manzelmann went close to crashing over near the posts but the Seagulls defence turned her away as the game entered a grind.
It took until the last play of the first half for the scoreboard to change again. Having hit both edge backrowers short a handful of times already in this one, Nikiah Campbell responded to the jamming defence by cutting back off her right foot to beat the sliding defence back on the inside to level things up at 12-all at halftime.
The kickoff chaos wasn’t reserved only for the Seagulls. Manzellmann sent her restart to the second half out on the full just as Canfield had done before her.
The two teams traded errors and penalties, but when they managed to enter good ball, Tweed actioned what seemed to be a clear plan to run their edges off a short ball. A strong Jemma Bemrose carry inside the ten-metre line set the Seagulls up to shift from the middle.
Despite the outside defence jamming in and onto Canfield, she brushed off the first would-be tackler and carried to more over the line to give Tweed a 16-12 lead in the 43rd minute.
The Cutters pressed the middle through Banu and Mooka in the search of points. They repeatedly wound up and flung themselves at a Seagulls line that continued to turn them away. Twice Tweed held Cutters ball carriers just short of the line. However, while strong in defence, that strength was only required because of the errors they made out of yardage. Failing to get to the kick too often, Tweed could no longer hold out the big Cutters forwards. Following the path Banu and Mooka had carved out earlier, Vanique Malayta barged her way under the sticks for an 18-16 Mackay lead.
One Cutters try turned into two. Two shortly turned into three as the home side ran in three tries in nine minutes to break the game open and fly out to a 26-16 lead with eight minutes to play. At the same time, the Seagulls lost Bemrose and Murray-Fiu to injury – two key players and major contributors to a lot of Tweed’s best actions throughout the match.
In a game of ebbs and flows, the Cutters managed to end up on top after 70 minutes. Tweed responded well to a slow start and looked comfortable for periods in the second half. However, a fast-finishing Cutters found enough points late to secure the 26-16 win.
The Seagulls will now prepare for their first home game of the 2023 season when they take on the Brisbane Tigers at the Piggabeen Sports Complex in Round 3.
Key Takeaways
The Seagulls ran a lot of their attack through Zara Canfield and Kaitlyn Phillips on the edges. Both run hard lines and push through the tackle when in possession. Marama Thomas and Nikiah Campbell both used them effectively while Gloria-Hannah Murray-Fiu made sure to use a Phillips carry to score Tweed’s first of the evening.
One area that is developing is the ball playing through the middle. She started at dummy half last week but Jemma Bemrose played strictly as a middle forward in this one and proved to be a handful for the Cutters defence. She is a strong carrier of the football. She stays tall and uses her leg drive to pick up extra metres after contact. Her experience and ability at dummy half add a dangerous ball-playing element to her game when the opportunity arises, too.
Her partnership with Rona Peters is one to keep an eye on. Running a genuine support line of Peters’ hip in the second half, Bemrose’s carry acted as the trigger to Canfield’s try one play later.
Tweed made things difficult for themselves with a few errors out of yardage in this one. When entering good ball, however, points never looked far away.
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