Neil Cadigan –
The fifth-placed Campbell Construction Co. Tweed Seagulls know they have to ignore form and the ladder standings when they take on reigning premiers Burleigh Bears in the always physical and intense local derby at Piggabeen Sports Complex on Saturday (3.30pm).
The Bears have won only one of their opening three games of 2021 and were thrashed 50-10 by Brisbane Tigers last round.
Yet the clash between the neighbouring Gold Coast Titans feeder teams will bring out the best in both teams and Tweed coach Ben Woolf is expecting a fired up Bears – who have won the past eight clashes between the teams and the last four at Piggabeen – to rip in from the outset.
And the fact there will be nine Titans squad members in the game will only add to the competitiveness.
The Seagulls will field the most of the local NRL squad in Herman Ese’ese, Sam McIntyre, Toby Sexton, Jayden Campbell, Jai Whitbread and Darius Farmer while the Bears have included in their 17 Greg Marzhew, Tanah Boyd and Sam Stone, while they have former regular NRL players in Jack Stockwell, Pat Politoni, Blake Leary and Lloyd Perrett.
Woolf is glad to have 16 backing up from the 17 who played well in last Saturday’s 40-26 win against Souths Logan with the only change being the experienced top-liner Fetuli Talanoa coming onto the wing, as his side has slowly built familiarity in combinations.
“We know Burleigh will come out firing, as they always do against us, and they will be out to strike back from last week’s performance,” said Woolf who has had the benefit of a “regular” week of training at Piggabeen after having limited training time at Tugun in the previous month.
“So we have to match their energy and enthusiasm from the start and be physical back at them.
“We’ve been a bit disjointed because of the team changes and new players in the squad but, week by week, are getting better and building combinations and understanding.
“But we still only completed at 51 per cent last week and we have to control the ball better against teams like Burleigh.
“A lot of that came from too many unforced errors, like in the play the ball and sloppy errors at key times after tries or when we had built pressure. We were pretty dominant yet kept the Magpies in the game.
“We expect Burleigh to be really aggressive and take us to us early on so we have to match their enthusiasm and be more disciplined.”
This is the first week since the start of the season that Tweed have had full training sessions on a full field because of their return to a dried-out Piggabeen, and team gym sessions rather than players having to individually do their weights.
Ese’ese and McIntyre come into the starting side after dropping out of the Titans 19 to play Manly.
The teams:
TWEED SEAGULLS: Jayden Campbell, Talor Walters, Treymain Spry, Lee Turner, Ethan O’Neill, Will Brimson, Toby Sexton, Herman Ese’ese, Liam Hampson, JJ Collins, Lamar Liolevave (capt), Joe Vuna, Sam McIntyre. INTERCHANGE: Brent Woolf, Darius Farmer, Jai Whitbread, Braden Robson, Lindon McGrady (one to be omitted).
BURLEIGH BEARS: Kurtis Rowe, Greg Marzhew, Cory Denniss, Josh Berkers, Curtis Dansey-Smaller, Josh Rogers, Guy Hamilton, Luke Page, Pat Politoni, Jack Stockwell, Blake Leary, Hayden Schwass, Sam Coster. INTERCHANGE: Tanah Boyd, Sam Stone, Lloyd Perrett, Jacob Hind, John Palavi
Round Details:
- Tweed Seagulls Vs Burleigh Bears, 17th April, 3:30pm
- Piggabeen Sports Complex, Carramar Dr, Tweed Heads West NSW 2485
- COVID safe practices will be enforced
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