Hunters back on track

By ISAAC LIRI
AFTER back-to-back losses, Michael Marum’s men returned to the winners’ circle on Sunday with a 32-18 win over the Tweed Head Seagulls.
Marum described the match as squaring the ledger after Tweed Heads managed to beat his side twice last year.
The defending premiers scored five tries to earn their second win of the season in front of a crowd of 5662 at the National Football Stadium.
“We wanted to come out strong against them, we spoke about those games last year and we saw the videos and it was good to get the win to pay back and to get our season back on track,” Marum said.
Flyer Edene Gabbie in his second game for the SP sponsored side grabbed a double, scoring his first try in the 15th minute and his second in the 52nd minute.
“Edene is one of our new players and he has a lot of potential.
“He is still learning a lot of things but again there are some areas of his game that need improvement like defence,” Marum added.
However it was skipper Ase Boas, who stepped up to lead the side with a man of the match performance, kicking six goals from six attempts and scoring a try four minutes before halftime.
“I try to lead by example every time for the younger ones coming through,” Boas said.
“I just had to go out there, play my game and we managed to get a win. “We’ll just have to build on this win heading into our other games.
“We’ve alos gained some confidence going forward.”
Fullback Stargroth Amean, who played his last game, scored his side’s second try in the 24th minute. The visitors scored a converted try in the 30th minute through Kiah Cooper and trailed 18-6 at the interval.
The second stanza saw a lot of errors from both sides with incomplete sets stiffling play which frustrated both coaches. After Gabbie’s second try, skipper Boas used a penalty to add another two points and settle his men down as they looked to grind out the win in a scrappy half. The Hunters led 26-6.
Back-to-back errors by the home side provided the Seagulls good field position and Copper scored his second of the day which halfback Eli Levido converted from out wide to narrow the gap to 26-12.
Both sides struggled to find points until the dying minutes when Seagulls prop Moeaki Fotuaika charged through the Hunters defence to score under the post.
Levido made no mistake with the conversion to cut the deficit to eight points at 26-18.
The Hunters kept their cool amidst the errors with Watson Boas benefiting from counter by Adex Wera who cleaned up a kick in general play to slice through a staggered defensive line before flicking one out the back to Ase Boas who set up brother Watson who finished off under the uprights.
The win now pushes the Hunters up into eighth place on the Q-Cup ladder after round four. PNG Hunters 32 (Edene Gabbie 2, Stargroth Amean, Ase Boas, Watson Boas tries; Ase Boas 5 con, pen) Tweed Heads Seagulls 18 (Kiah Cooper 2, Moeaki Fotuaika tries; Eli Levido 3 con).