Wynnum Manly has secured its fifth straight win after an end-to-end points extravaganza against Western Clydesdales on Saturday.
Spectators at Clive Berghofer Stadium were treated to 74 points despite greasy conditions, with no more than seven minutes between tries in the first half.
Clydesdales fans were up and about when their side took a 16-12 lead midway through the opening stanza, but by half-time it was the Seagulls ahead 24-22.
The home side then took the lead through Mitchell Watson immediately after the break, but the class of Wynnum Manly eventually told as Gideon Gela-Mosby, Matthew Milson and Josh Rogers scored second half tries to seal the 42-32 victory.
Wynnum Manly Seagulls coach Mat Head was happy the attacking prowess his side had shown this season was enough to get the two points, putting the defensive lapses down to potential fatigue after four straight wins on the road.
“I sent our Hastings Deering Colts coach a message when they won by one point and said a win’s a win, take it coach and move on and now I’ve got to take my own advice,” he said.
“We just didn’t attack our defence and we were just happy to make our tackles and that’s not who we are and not who we want to be.
“We just didn’t have those little things and that put us under pressure and to Toowoomba it’s credit, they’d come to play.
“I think they’re a bit like us, they played really well with the ball, it was just their defence, so full credit to what they did to us and we’re just glad we can get on the bus with the two points.
“We just didn’t bring the defence today and that happens and when you’re a good footy team, you find a way to win and that’s what the boys did.”
Head said it was heartening to see the players recognise their first half was not up to scratch and make up for it with the positive result.
“The boys knew it as soon as we walked in the shed,” he said.
“We spoke about it as a group, they called it out on themselves, which is a really pleasing thing for us and they went out and we won it through our attack tonight.
“We were very good, probably as fast and as hard as we’ve been with the ball.
“If we didn’t play well with the ball, we wouldn’t have won tonight’s footy game.”
Josh Rogers, the Seagulls’ Brisbane Broncos affiliate five-eighth, labelled parts of the game “scrappy” and “not Wynnum-like” but was pleased to have the attack humming when it needed to be.
“They’re a good attacking team, but we just can’t turn the ball over like that. It was just embarrassing to be honest,” he said.
“I think it’s just individual errors. There was a few by me, a few by other people, just individual stuff.
“So just a bit of concentration is probably what you’d put it down to.
“We defended a lot better in that second half. It was a bit more back to Wynnum kind of footy.
“It was a good attacking game, good for the crowd to come out and watch a bit of attack, not so much defence, but the attack was definitely good.”
Head said his side would have to find another gear next week and they needed no more motivation than an Old Boys day date with Redcliffe Dolphins next Sunday.
“We’ve got to be physically ready,” he said.
“We’re going to be up for it and we’ve been looking at it and maybe our eye was a little bit there tonight.
“We’re just lucky we got away with tonight and we’ll be ready next Sunday and I think our fans will be proud of what we’ve done in the last five weeks and we need to put that in front of Kougari on Sunday.”
Souths Logan put on a clinical performance on an away trip to Port Moresby. The Magpies scored two tries in the first seven minutes to set the tone, adding two in the final eight minutes of the first half while the Hunters were down to 12 men to earn a 24-4 half-time buffer, going on with the job in the second to complete a 40-10 win.
Townsville was made to fight hard against an improving Ipswich side. At Jack Manski Oval, both teams scored two tries in the opening 25 minutes, but again the back end of the half hurt the Jets as the Blackhawks took a 24-10 lead into half-time. Townsville controlled the game well in the second stanza to earn consecutive wins.
Norths Devils overcame some midweek to adversity to down a Redcliffe Dolphins side chock-full of NRL-affiliated talent. In a contest for the Steve Kavanagh Cup – honouring a past player and coach of both clubs – the Dolphins held a commanding 22-6 lead at half-time, but the Devils were right in it with two tries in the eight minutes after the break. Manase Kaho’s try in the 67th minute levelled the scores, before Bryce Donovan stepped up to kick the winning field goal in the 77th.
Tweed secured a last gasp win with a try in the dying minutes over Mackay Cutters at BB Print Stadium. The home side started well with a try to Brandon Finnegan after three minutes, but from there Tweed worked into the game and led 26-18 shortly after half-time. The Cutters would not say die and held the lead after Finnegan scored his second inside the final 10 minutes. But it was Kaleb Ngamanu who stepped up when the Seagulls needed a hero, getting the go-ahead try in the 76th minute before Toby Sexton added a late penalty goal.