Neil Cadigan
The Campbell Construction Co. Tweed Seagulls have plenty of incentive to put on a strong showing in part two of this year’s Intrust Super Cup Rivalry Round when they travel to Pizzey Park today to take on Burleigh Bears (2.10pm).
With the game to be bereft of Gold Coast Titans players because of COVID-19 restrictions, it is certainly clash between the well-resourced Bears who won premierships with little reliance on Titans players in 2016 and 2019 and maintain most of those squads, and the border-located Seagulls who will provide debuts to three players and welcome halfback Luke Jurd into the team for the first time this season.
The Seagulls have the chance to secure their first double victory in the local derby since 2013 but their biggest incentive is what has been their catch-cry for the past month – ‘control our own destiny’.
Third-placed Tweed have a three-point gap ahead of four teams on the ladder, of which Burleigh are won after winning six of seven games since the two sides met in round four.
Another is Redcliffe who the Gulls beat in their last match (when the Dolphins were one point behind them), another is Souths Logan who Tweed were scheduled to beat last weekend before the round was rescheduled to July 24-25. The fourth is Northern Pride who Tweed face in the last round in Cairns (they drew 18-all in round seven),
“It was the same against the Magpies last week but the game was postponed, and Redcliffe the week before, when we were up against the team immediately below us on the ladder,” said Tweed coach Ben Woolf. “If we beat Burleigh we can open up a bigger gap and have a lot more control of our own destiny; if we lose we’re back to one point in front.
“We want to finish top four and have a second bite of the cherry in the finals; that’s our main goal.
“And if we can beat the teams just behind us on the ladder and each time widen the gap, we have more control of that and don’t have to rely on other results.
“It’s a big challenge (against Burleigh), that’s for sure. We’ll be without the Titans players who have been so good for us this season so it’s a test for our more experienced guys to step up and take more senior roles.
“We’ve got three players on debut in Charlie Murray, Daniel Ross and Joshua Patston and Luke Jurd is playing his first game in the team this season, and that’s exciting for them.
“Burleigh obviously have a strong roster, with a lot of guys who have won one or two competitions with them, and they’ve got the resources to put good squads on the paddock all the time and not rely on NRL players.
“And these derby games are always intense and physical.”
Tweed won the derby battle 16-12 at Piggabeen Sports Complex in April and have not secured the double since 2013. In 2014 Tweed won the first clash 24-8 at Pizzey Park, the Seagulls’ last win there, before Burleigh came from behind to draw 12-all at Piggabeen. After Tweed won the only clash in 2015, Burleigh had won eight derbies in succession before this season.
However, history will mean for little on Saturday – character and performance will.
The 19-year-old middle forward Murray, who played under-18s for the Bears before heading to Parramatta in 2020 but returned after COVID saw the under-20s season abandoned, will make his ISC debut off the bench for Tweed after impressing in Hastings Deering Colts this season. So too will fellow forwards who have been in fine form in the Northern Rivers A-grade competition this year – Patston (Lismore Marist) and Ross (Tweed Coast Raiders where he has been coached by Test prop Brent Kite).
Another Northern Rivers product, prop Stuart Mason, will play his second ISC game of the season off the bench.
They will look for guidance from senior players like skipper Lamar Liolevave, cousins Lindon and Brayden McGrady in the backs, seasoned hooker Ben Woolf, prop JJ Collins who like Liolevave has NRL experience, and lightweight lock Braden Robson, the Murwillumbah product and older brother of North Queensland Cowboys hooker Reece Robson, who has been a consistent solid performer for the Seagulls this season. Another key forward is prop Harrison Muller who played for Sunshine Coast Falcons in the 2017 ISC grand final and is now at his third club.
The teams to clash at Pizzey Park, Miami on Saturday July 10 at 2.10pm:
TWEED SEAGULLS: Lindon McGrady, Brayden McGrady, Treymain Spry, Lee Turner, Talor Walters, Will Brimson, Luke Jurd, JJ Collins, Brent Woolf, Harrison Muller, Lamar Liolevave (capt), Joshua Patston, Braden Robson. Interchange: Liam Hampson, Daniel Ross, Stuart Mason, Charlie Murray.
BURLEIGH BEARS: Kurtis Rowe, Andrew Niko, Sami Sauiluma, Josh Berkers, TBA, Josh Rogers, Conner Toia, Jeff Lynch, Pat Politoni, Luke Page, Dylan Kelly, Hayden Schwass, Sam Coster. Interchange: Shallin Fuller, Api Noema-Matenga, Reece Summer, Lochlyn Sheldon.
Round Details:
- Tweed Seagulls v Burleigh Bears at Pizzey Park, Pacific Pde, Miami on Saturday July 10 at 2.10pm
- COVID safe practices will be enforced
Related Posts
