The Campbell Construction Co. Tweed Seagulls certainly know what an occasion it is to be part of the historic first NRL grand final day at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on Sunday but the focus of their preparations for the clash with Wynnum Manly has been to prepare and play like they have in any other match this season.
The Gulls are without doubt the underdogs of Sunday’s Intrust Super Cup preliminary finals which will be played as curtain-raisers to the Telstra Premiership showdown between Penrith and South Sydney.
They take on the other Seagulls that will field five current Brisbane Broncos players and Kiwi internationals Zeb Taia and Isaac Luke (named on an extended bench). In the other match, Wynnum’s fellow big-budget sides Norths Devils and Burleigh Bears do battle at 2.45pm.
Yet Tweed, the team with the least current NRL players, and the youngest and least experienced of the remaining four, will field close to an unchanged side for a third successive week and have great belief in their ability after almost beating runaway minor premiers Norths Devils in the first week of the finals (beaten 22-16) and recording a convincing win against fifth-placed Redcliffe Dolphins (41-22) last Saturday.
Several of their players have run onto Suncorp Stadium before in either under-20s competition or at NRL level and look forward to playing at Queensland’s premier venue but the attitude all week has been to think, prepare and perform like every prior game this season.
“We all know what an occasion it is but the focus all week has been really good and there’s been nothing different in our preparation,” said coach Ben Woolf, who finished second to Devils mentor Rohan Smith as the Intrust Super Cup coach of the year for 2021.
“We’ve had to make very few team changes and the benefit of having our two main playmakers Toby Sexton and Lindon McGrady together for the last two games together after a few weeks without even playing.
“We have to be better than last week at building pressure by completing our sets well against a team as good and experienced as Wynnum but we’re going to shift the ball like we have all season and play pretty much the same. That’s our strength.
“Wynnum have four Broncos players in their backline, strike on each edge through Zeb Taia and TC Robati and three players just chosen in the QRL team of the year (five-eighth Jack Campagnolo, hooker Jayden Berrell and lock Jake Bateman). So we know what we’re up against and we have to restrict their opportunities.
“But playing finals the past two weeks has been a good learning experience and it’s up to us to keep getting better each week. We haven’t even spoken about a possible grand final appearance; we don’t need to think more than the one step ahead of us.”
Wynnum Manly will field five current Brisbane Broncos Selwyn Cobbo, David Mead, Jesse Arthars, Robati and Richie Kennar with halfback Sexton the only Seagull who has played NRL in 2021 (four games). The 20-year-old was outstanding against the Dolphins and will again take on the main field kicking duties and goalkicking.
However, it has been the consistency and toughness across the park that has largely progressed Tweed to the preliminary final, led by prop JJ Collins who has been an inspirational leader in his first season with the club, skipper Lamar Liolevave, prop Harrison Mueller who played for Sunshine Coast in the 2019 grand final, hookers Brent Woolf and Liam Hampson and tireless lock Braden Robson.
Treymain Spry, who had five NRL appearance for the Titans in 2020, is a key strike weapon on the right side but former Warriors under-20s player Lee Turner has been an unsung hero on the left all season. The depth of Woolf’s squad, which was down to a bare 17 fit players less than a month ago, is seen in the performances of John Macklin and the experienced Ryland Jacobs on the wings while Talor Walters and Brayden McGrady have been injured.
No team in the finals has had their backs to the wall as much as Tweed who have been unable to play or train on their home ground Piggabeen for over three months and had none or few Titans players available since round 11. Yet they have embraced the challenges put before them.
They know they will need all that character on Sunday.
The teams have met once previously this season – a 36-22 Wynnum victory at Ioana College in round two.
The teams for Sunday’s clash at Suncorp Stadium (12.15pm):
TWEED SEAGULLS: Lindon McGrady, John Macklin, Treymain Spry, Lee Turner, Ryland Jacobs, Will Brimson, Toby Sexton, JJ Collins, Brent Woolf, Harrison Muller, Lamar Liolevave (capt), Juwan Compain, Braden Robson. Interchange (from): Liam Hampson, Daniel Ross, Jack Glossop, Tevin Arona.
WYNNUM MANLY SEAGULLS: Selwyn Cobbo, David Mead, Deloise Hoeter, Jesse Arthurs, Richard Kennar, Jack Campagnolo, Sam Scarlett (capt), Aaron Rockley, Jayden Berrell, Max Elliott, Zeb Taia, TC Robati, Luke Bateman. Interchange (from): Kalolo Saitaua, Matiu Love-Henry, Tristan Hope, Francis Kalisolaite-Tualau, Edward Burns, Isaac Luke.
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