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The Campbell Construction Co. Tweed Seagulls will hit the M1 this weekend as they travel to Sunshine Coast Stadium to take on the Sunshine Coast Falcons in Week 2 of the 2022 QRL Hostplus Cup finals series. Sunday’s match is a chance for the Seagulls to replicate their efforts from last season with an appearance in next week’s preliminary final. While they will no doubt be looking to go one further this year, a must-win game against the Falcons is the focus this week as Tweed look to build on a brave win over the Brisbane Tigers last Saturday. The Seagulls fended off a second-half comeback from the Tigers in that game to post a resounding 24-18 win that will give them plenty of confidence coming into this weekend. Tweed overcame a strong head wind and a desperate Brisbane outfit to play to their strengths, posting four second-half tries and running away with the win after taking a narrow two-point lead into the break. The stats sheet and highlights reel paints a pretty picture for Seagulls five-eighth Will Brimson who was on fire in that game, running for 173 metres, busting nine tackles and slicing through Brisbane’s edge defence twice for two tries in the left hand corner. While Brimson deserves plenty of credit for his starring performance last week, the Seagulls inner sanctum will know Brimson was afforded the chance to shine thanks to the efforts of Tweed’s middle forwards. Sam Lisone, JJ Collins and Braden Robson were instrumental in the Seagulls win over the Tigers to constantly get Tweed over the ad line and at a retreating defensive line. Hooker Brent Woolf can be added to that list, overcoming a problematic shoulder injury to make an impact on both sides of the ball as Tweed powered through the middle of the field. The Seagulls out-ran Brisbane by more than 400 metres last week as their forwards compressed the ruck before shifting smartly to the edges. Lisone was a key contributor to this as both a yardage merchant and a link man in attack. Twice Lisone slotted in at first receiver to engage the defence before passing smartly to his halves out wide where the damage had already been done. It’s been the recipe for success all season for the Seagulls and they will take confidence from playing to their strengths and executing a winning gameplan against the Tigers last week. The Sunshine Coast Falcons bring a very different form line into Week 2 of the finals series having fallen short to the Redcliffe Dolphins 16-22 in a nail biter last Saturday. A late try to Young Tonumaipea to bring the Falcons within six points looked like it might have been the start of a miracle comeback but the Dolphins held firm to ensure they will go one better than their semi finals exit at the hands of Tweed last season. Last week’s loss was just the second time the Falcons have lost at Sunshine Coast Stadium in their last 13 games on home soil, and the hosts will be eager to bounce back and avenge their fans with a strong showing this weekend. The recent history between these two sides is split down the middle with the Falcons winning 26-18 in Round 15 this year and the Seagulls making light work of Sunshine Coast 28-6 in Round 2 earlier in the season. On both occasions it was the home side who came away with the chocolates, meaning Tweed will need to overcome the trend if they’re to beat the Falcons at home on Sunday and advance to the preliminary finals next week. Player to Watch The Seagulls have favoured their left edge for most of the 2022 season thanks largely to the work of Will Brimson at five-eighth and his combination with the players around him. Josh Patston and Ioane Seiuli have provided Tweed with skilful edge forward options outside Brimson throughout the year while Scott Galeano has shown his versatility to become an extremely reliable winger option on the paint out wide. Tweed’s left-edge is at full strength again this week with Lee Turner named at centre for the third consecutive game following an injury-enforced layoff in Rounds 17-19. Turner has been one of the Seagulls’ best this year with seven tries, seven assists, an average 112 running metres per game and – perhaps most importantly – an impressive 92% tackle efficiency from 17 appearances this season. It’s not often we see a strike attacking centre produce such positive numbers on the other side of the ball but Turner’s 13 tackles for zero misses last week is a fair measurement of his defensive prowess. He reads attacking shapes smartly and has good positioning in the line to either force the opposition into a mistake or shoot on his opposite man and shut the play down when required. Turner’s abilities without the ball will be even more important this week given the strike Sunshine Coast possess down their right edge. Backrower Jack Howarth is a powerful runner of the ball and has a handy offload in his bag of tricks while Young Tonumaipea and Will Warbrick round out an all-NRL contracted right edge for the Falcons. It’s in attack though that Turner can make his impact felt on Sunday in a must-win clash with the Sunshine Coast. We saw last week what Brimson can do with the ball in hand as a runner and part of his success against the Tigers can be put down to Turner’s presence outside him and the attention he demands from the defence. With Turner capable of beating his man one-on-one or getting an offload away to his wing partner, defending teams can’t afford to give Turner too much room on the outside else he’ll make them pay. The result of this last week was Brimson slicing through for two linebreaks and two tries himself, but if the Falcons jam in on Brimson then look for Turner to take possession on the overs line and challenge the defence himself. While Turner hasn’t scored since crossing for a double in Round 11 against the Ipswich Jets he’s been busy as a distributor in that time to post six assists with Galeano often the beneficiary. That left edge is clearly an area of strength for the Seagulls this finals series and it’s fair to expect one of Brimson, Turner or Galeano to appear on the scoresheet again on Sunday. Club’s Comments Tweed Seagulls Head of Football Dave Penna was full of praise for the playing squad after a brave team effort in Week 1 of the finals. “We have a team that has a lot of individual talent so it’s important that they stick to what the coach (Ben Woolf) has asked them to do, and then the natural talent takes over from there,” said Penna. “We still need to play as a team and the boys have improved every week with that which is pleasing to see.” Penna also paid tribute to hooker Brent Woolf who played through the pain last week and had a significant impact on both sides of the ball. “We are very lucky to have a player like Brent,” Penna said. “He makes a big difference to our team as he is always giving 110% for his teammates.” Team List
Written by Rugby League Writers for Tweed Seagulls Media
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