Seagulls edge Hunters

SP Hunters were unable to capitalise on a strong start as coach Matthew Church’s men went down 22-24 to hosts Tweed Heads in Tugun, Gold Coast, yesterday.
An early Seagulls penalty provided the Hunters with the first opportunity to attack in good ball and the visitors made it count in the round-10 Hostplus Cup clash.
Having looked relatively comfortable defending the line and shutting down a long-side right shift, Hunters five-eighth Mark Tony put in a grubber which ended up in the arms of Keven Appo.
An unlucky deflection off the Seagulls defender allowed the Hunters to open the scoring.
Rinsing and repeating, another Seagulls penalty gifted the Hunters field position and they came up with the same result.
This time, Tony used a pass to put a teammate through the line and Brandon Nima ended up under the posts.
Down 0-12 inside 10 minutes, the Seagulls needed to respond.
Making it difficult for the Hunters to work out of their own end and with the Seagulls on the front foot, Craig Garvey started to enjoy himself when getting out of dummy-half.
The sustained pressure eventually translated into points after both Ioane Seiuli and Garvey were held up over the line in quick succession.
A repeat set added some fatigue to the Hunters defensive line and Braden Robson made them pay with a short pass to prop JJ Collins who strolled over for his first try of the season.
While the home side couldn’t keep the scoreboard ticking over, they extended their period of dominance as the Hunters struggled to work their way up the field.
Garvey set the standard with his dummy-half play and Blake Scott followed suit shortly after his introduction to the game.
Using a hard-running Josh Patston as a decoy for the B defender, Scott hit and spun on the line to level the scores at 12-12.
Like the first half, the second started with a Seagulls penalty and error to provide the Hunters with the first attacking period after the break.
However, unlike the first half, the Seagulls defence held firm and they soon worked their way into the grind and, soon enough, into the lead.
Looking dangerous when sending it wide through Will Brimson, Lee Turner and Kaleb Ngamanu earlier in the match, Brimson this time dropped Patston back underneath. Showing great strength as he bumped off the first contact before driving two defenders over the line, Patston slammed the ball down through three defenders to push the Seagulls out to an 18-12 lead. That lead became 22-12 in the following set.
A line-break down the left edge sent the Hunters defence scrambling.
Cool, calm and collected, Lindon McGrady chipped one over into the corner of JoJo Fifita who rose up and came down with the football to score Tweed’s fourth unanswered try.
Kitron Laka answered back for the Hunters with a super solo effort 10 minutes later. Leaving defenders on the ground, he broke five tackles on his way to the line to pull his side to within four points of the hosts.
Just as it looked as though the Seagulls had weathered the storm and would hold out the visitors through to fulltime, Wapi pulled off a brutal and athletic finish in the corner to level the scores at 22-all with five minutes to play.
McGrady bounced the kick-off into touch to give his side a scrum in the middle of the field 10m from the line.
A relatively ugly but composed field goal set later, he chipped one through the posts to put the Seagulls 23-22 in front before Scott made sure of things with another field goal before the fulltime hooter in Tugun.
Results: Sat, June 4 – Bears 64 Tigers 16, Blackhawks 18 Cutters 28, Devils 18 Falcons 26, Dolphins 54 Jets 0; Sun, June 5 – Wynnum Manly 22 Capras 24, Tweed Heads 24 Hunters 22